The Keys-Link Between Worlds
by Celetea
Summary: Has Youtubers, need SIDE OCs, main closed. The discovery of one boy wanted by the squids spirals into something major-something that could the end of everything Team Crafted has fought for. Chapter 9: Ty leapt backwards, 10 feet, and turned his eyes on us. The eye we could see, like his headphones, was a visible mix of purple and red. But that wasn't what made us back up a step...
1. The End That Started It All

**"There you are... Come back to where you belong."**

_No... _

_So close..._

**"I will test your frailty... And your competency..."**

_More enemies... Urgh..._

**"You remember... Don't you?"**

_Of course I do... I'll never forget._

**"Your dependence... Come back to me..."**

_No! I-I-I refuse!_

**"You've changed..."**

_It's not the same anymore..._

**"I haven't..."**

_That's what you think..._

**"You're so much stronger now..."**

_Dodge, weave, duck, stab... Now roll... JUMP!_

* * *

Just as he was teleporting away, his attacker, the one who "saved" him, said...

******"Please... End it all."**

* * *

**_Well, I'm sorry it's short, but that's the intro :P I hope you liked it. Author notes are in bold and italics, just so you know. Don't worry, I'll have a new chapter out by tomorrow, probs, and it will DEFINITELY be a whole lot longer. As a total spoiler on some part, the lines in bold are from "Herobrine's Onslaught", created by CubicDelight. So, um, please leave a review, whether you hate it, love it, want to kill for some reason, etc._**


	2. The Story Begins

**Okay, as promised, next chapter! Very significantly longer than the first one, as I aim to make all chapters long and enjoyable. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Look, there they are!"

"AAAAIIYEEEE!"

"WE LOVE YOU!"

"Oh Notch, not the obsessed ones!"

"JASON! I'M SO STARTLED!"

"RUN!"

SkyDoesMinecraft, TrueMU, and HuskyMudkipz were trying out a new map that day, and upon coming back to the Team Crafted base, the "Level 10" fangirls, who were the fangirls who took it to the extreme, such as kidnapping, mobbing, spying, and setting up a whole system on alerting the other "Level 10" fangirls.

It was thanks to that system that the trio was now running for their lives through the no-longer peaceful End City from about 1,000 fangirls.

"Oh Notch, not like this!" Sky screamed. "They're almost as bad as squids!"

"Husky, look! You jump into that river and swim over, while I jet pack across with Sky!" Jason (TrueMU) shouted.

Within seconds, the plan was executed, but the fangirls simply ignored the fact the river existed and swam across. Seeing as very few were good swimmers, this earned the trio the lead they needed to make a break for it.

* * *

"Whew... We made it," Husky said, relieved. They were within a nice prairie located on the outskirts of End City, with a good view so they could see any incoming threats.

"Jason, I've never been so startled!" Sky hung on to Jason's arm for dear life.

"The threats gone, Sky," Jason replied. "Anyway, base is over there." He pointed east of the prairie, where they could see the Team Crafted building towering over the rest of the city. The three began the seemingly hundreds of blocks walk back to base.

"Wait... There's something on the shore of a river," Husky said, pointing to a dark spot near the wider section of the river.

"I can't see that far! Do fish eyes have special vision?" Sky asked.

"I'M NOT A FISH!"

"Guys, I think it's a person. We should go check it out," Jason said.

The three slowly approached the figure, which happened to be a boy, laying face down on the sand. He was wearing a white shirt and gray pants, along with a set of headphones, which glowed a vivid purple before fading into a faint green.

"I don't remember seeing him around..." Husky approached cautiously before a loud splash made him jump back and look around wildly.

A blue figure with (8-10) tentacles emerged from the water, tentacles flapping around wildly.

"A SQUID!" Sky shouted angrily, drawing a butter (gold) sword. But the squid, instead of just chattering aimlessly or going straight for Sky, as most squids did, it lunged for the mysterious boy, wrapping its tentacles around him and dragged him into the river.

"WE HAVE TO SAVE HIM AND DESTROY THE SQUID!" Sky jumped into the river, followed by his two companions, each one wielding their own butter sword. The trio had no trouble following the squid, until it seemed to swim through a wall, leaving the chasers confused.

"What? How is that possible?" Jason asked.

"CHARGE!" Sky ignored the fact of possibly giving himself a concussion and swam/barged into the "wall", which was simply a projection which revealed an entire squid base.

"Oh... They got smarter."

"INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS!"

Squids began swarming them. They hacked and slashed through squid after squid, but when one went down, it seemed ten more took their place.

"We need the butter armor!" Jason shouted. "It'll keep their slimy tentacles off us!"

But the squids knew what the butter armor did to them and attacked in such huge numbers the three did not have time to put it on.

Finally, they were given the chance when a hole in the base floor opened, and all the squids stopped their attack to see what was happening.

When this happened, Sky quickly passed Husky and Jason some armor and they suited up before attacking the squids again. This time, the squids completely ignored them, making them easy pickings.

"We have found it..."

A voice rumbled throughout the caverns in which the base was located in, and huge squid emerged from the hole, causing Sky's jaw to drop.

"Rejoice, my fellow squids! We have found a way to victory!" These words were greeted by lots of loud cheers and squid noises. Once the noise died down, the huge squid continued.

"The silly Sky Army and his allies will never be able to stop us, not when we have one of the Keys!" The huge squid lifted his tentacles, revealing a cage where the boy from the river lay, unconscious.

"That boy?" A squid squeaked. "I thought the Keys were items!"

"Shush, unknowing one. Yes, some of the Keys are items, but the more powerful and beneficial ones are living-or unliving- entities. If we gather enough Keys, The One Who Holds Every Key will appear, and with His power, we will be unstoppable!"

"How can He hold every key if we have the Keys?" Another squid questioned.

"We do not know, and may never know, but his power is absolute, tied to his 'Keys'. If we wield enough, He will have to bend to our will."

Sky had listened to the speech apprehensively, then whispered, "Jason, I'm startled!" It was also at that moment Sky realized he was alone.

"Jason! Husky! Where are you?" He whisper-yelled, looking around.

"Up here. The squids don't notice us for some reason, so we're going to drain away all the water using the pipe systems, leaving them helped and allowing us to take out another base," Jason explained. "Hit it, Husky!"

"Urgh..." Husky slowly, but surely, turned the drainage valve completely, setting alarms off.

"WARNING! WARNING! WATER DRAINING!" The alarm blared the message over and over, setting the mass of squids into a frenzy.

"We gotta kill the giant squid and save the guy stuck in the cage!" Sky shouted, ignoring the now beached squids. He headed straight toward the squid boss, who gurgled angrily.

"YOU!"

"Me." Sky stared angrily at the bloated squid before suddenly slicing off a tentacles, causing it to scream and lash back in anger. It only resulted in it recoiling, the butter armor Sky was wearing burned the squid's normally moist skin.

"Sky! We're here! Let's finish it off!" Jason called, hacking at the tentacles.

"Husky, you try to see if you can move the cage or the guy inside, Jason, keep on fighting! I'll aim for the main head!" Sky ordered, completely focused on the task of destroying his enemy.

"Right!"

Soon, the giant squid was defeated, tentacles severed and fatally wounded. The prisoner was safely rescued, and Sky was to deliver the final blow.

"This... Is not the end! We squids know, know of the Keys to victory!" The squid yelled. "When we find them all, our victory will be secured and absolute! We will rule all, and destroy your pitiful friends one by o-"

SHLUNK!

"Starting to get on my nerves," Sky said, turning to the other two. "Come on. Let's get back to base."

* * *

**_Well, I hope you liked it! It's not as long as I wanted, but I wanted to hurry up and write more :3 I'll try my best with a update schedule, once, maybe twice a week if I become super inspired of such. I will take OCs, but not quite yet, because I need to write up the form. _**

**_Squid: *is reading from a paper* Uh... Plz... Rw... Fr mr..._**

**_Someone: IT SAYS PLEASE REVIEW FOR MORE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO SEE SOME SQUIDS GETTING THEIR A** HANDED TO THEM!_**

**_Squid: Oh right, what he sai- wait WHAT?_**


	3. The Team Crafted Base

**_Another chapter! Note that there won't always be an update this often, but I'm just writing so much :3 I also need some OCs, details in the closing note._**

* * *

The trio slowly trudged up the hill, exhausted, but triumphant for they had finally reached the Team Crafted Base, where they could see recruits from the different armies hanging out around the Butter Phoenix (Sky's ship), and The Milky Way (Jason's ship).

Sky slammed open the base doors and announced, "WE'RE BAAAAACK!" Immediately attracting the attention of anyone within earshot. The clerk, who was fiddling around with her iBlock, jerked up and stared, before standing up.

"S-sirs, do you n-need anything?" She asked, stuttering from the embarrassment of being caught slacking on the job.

"Yes, we do. Call the other leaders to meet at the infirmary entrance, we have a patient who was a victim of the squids and needs help," Husky said, gesturing to Jason, who was carrying the person on his back.

"Please hurry," Jason groaned.

"Right away!" The clerk punched in several numbers, and within minutes, the patient was within a treatment room with the medics and SetoSorcerer, AKA Seto, in case the squids used something, like poison and such, on him. Jason had given him a very short version of what happened, and now BajanCanadian (Benja, Mitch), ASFJerome (Jerome), SSundee (Ian), Husky, Jason, and Sky were all outside, waiting for results.

"What happened?" Ian asked curiously.

"Yeah! There are so many rumors circling about, you gotta tell us the real story," Mitch insisted, to the agreements of the others.

Jason replied, "Okay, so we were heading back after trying out that new map, when a bunch of 'Level 10' fangirls decided to chase us, so we made a run for it. We ended up on the plains at the outskirts of the city, next to the river. We could still see base from there, so we walked toward it. Then, Husky saw something near the river."

"Right," Husky confirmed. "A few seconds later, Jason said it looked like a person, and we decided to go check it out. Turns out, it was a person, laying unconscious on the ground. He's in the infirmary right now, but he was wearing a set of headphones which were glowing purple, but then changed to green, which is pretty weird in my book. Anyway, I didn't recognize him, so I went to take a closer look."

"Then an ugly squid came!" Sky exclaimed, jumping in. "It was horrible, and he kidnapped the guy right in front of our eyes. As soon as the two disappeared, I jumped in after them, because I was going to rescue the man. The squid swam right through a wall, which turned out to be a fake wall made to trick us. Obviously, they saw us and attacked. We didn't have a chance to put out butter armor on, and the only reason we actually made it was because this horrendous giant squid came out of a hole in the base. It said to rejoice, because they found a way to beat us. Then, he lifted those ugly tentacles, and the guy they kidnapped was right there, in a cage." Sky took a deep, shuddering breath before he continued.

"It seems that there are 'Keys', and they are very powerful. Some could be living entities, other could be objects. They think that the guy he captured is one of the 'Keys'. Gathering a lot of them will somehow summon 'The One Who Holds Every Key', and he's supposedly very powerful. But his power is tied to his 'Keys', and controlling most of them is supposed to grant you power over the 'Key Master', I guess we could call him that."

"Just like that." Jason took it from there. "While the speech was happening, Husky and I found a way to drain all the water and kill most of the squids off, so we defeated the big squid, who shouted about knowing the 'Keys' to victory. The squids think that if they gather them all, their victory is secured, and we'll lose the fight. Then Sky finished off the squid, thankfully. We came here, the guy who is a 'Key' is getting treatment, we gave Seto the quickest version possible so he's not in the dark, and now, here we are."

Minutes passed as the leaders digested this new information, working on what to say and coming up with plans and ideas on how to foil the new squid plot, if it was even credible.

"Ugh..." Seto stumbled out of the room after several minutes and almost fell, if it weren't the fact he was caught and held steady by Jerome.

"Woah, dood, what happened to you?" Mitch asked, after Seto sat down.

"First, the results. He seems fine, vitals are good. There were plenty of cuts and bruises, but they range from about 3 months to a few hours or so ago. No fatal injuries," Seto hastily added after seeing the looks on their faces.

"That doesn't explain why you almost fainted," SSundee said, nibbling on his cake distractedly.

"I'm getting there. He was deathly pale, his breaths were short, shallow, and irregular, which deprives him of oxygen, and was completely unresponsive to any treatment the medics have given, which caused them to freak a little. I tried to probe him with a little magic to see the source of the problem. When I did, it felt like a fishing rod just hooked onto my magic and pulled. He drained almost two-thirds of my energy, and I'm almost sure he would have completely drained it all if I didn't cut the connection. The good news, though, was that color started flooding to his face and his breathing was more stable a few seconds after it all happened. The medics calmed down, and he's responded to some basic treatments."

"So he's okay," Sky stated.

"Yes. It seems that he lost too much energy, technically starved, to react to treatments. My magic probably felt like a Golden Apple to him the same way butter is to Sky after being trapped in a butterless cage for a day." Seto finished his analysis and leaned against the wall, eyes closed.

"THAT'S HORRIBLE!" Sky exclaimed, shuddering. The others murmured, knowing how much Sky loved his butter.

"What is?" A man in a tux, brown hair, and sunglasses walked in.

"Bodil? When did you get here?" Sky asked, standing up.

"Oh, not too long ago. I found a bunch of ink sacs at the river, so I figured something happened. Plus, all seven of the Team Crafted leaders are here," Bodil smirked. "So, what is it?"

"Um, come to the debriefing with us, we need to entire Team Crafted Army to know. Plus, I don't feel like explaining it again," Husky said.

"Alright, biggums and I are gonna get everyone into the debriefing hall, you guys get ready." Mitch and Jerome dashed over to the stairs and raced each other down.

"I'm going to skip... I don't feel so great," Seto groaned. "I'll be at my quarters." He dragged himself toward the stairs. The others cast a few worried looks his way before departing.

* * *

**The Debriefing Room**

The leaders watched as thousands of people milled about, chatting, eating, fiddling with their weapons, and the like. The Team Crafted army was mostly compromised of the Sky Army, the Stars, and the Mages.

"Ready?" SSundee asked, glancing toward Sky and Jason. As leading commanders of their own armies, they would do most of the explaining.

"As ready as any of us will ever be," Jason responded.

Sky took a death breath and screamed "BUTTER!" Which attracted everyone's attention. The room quieted to almost complete silence as they anxiously awaited the news.

"Okay, thank you for quieting," Jason said. "Sky, Husky, and I came across a squid base in the river not too far from here. The squids are sneakier and smarter than ever, but we've managed to uncover part of the plot when we entered. The squids are trying to gather 'Keys'. We don't know what the keys are, but they supposedly summon a powerful being that people can control if they have enough 'Keys'. They claimed to have captured one of the 'Keys' as well, saying that he was a key to victory against us."

Complete silence followed the news. The leaders waited for the news to sink in. They knew perfectly well that there would be question after question as soon as the briefing was over.

"Where's Master Seto?!" A shout broke the tense silence as heads turned towards the source.

"He's in his room. He was helping the medics treat the prisoner the squids had and wishes to be left alone," answered Sky, deliberately leaving out the fact he was supposedly a key. He was biting back a grin though, because Seto disliked being called "Master", but when his disciples spoke to him, they always called him that.

"Does this mean we're going to be hunting more squids Commander?" A Sky Army recruit called out.

"What are we going to do about the squids' plan?" Another asked. Suddenly, there were a thousands questions being voiced.

"Is Master Seto okay? Is he hurt?"

"What will you do about this, Commander Sky?"

"How did the squids get so close to our home base?"

"Will we put out more patrols?"

"Everyone, shut up!" Jerome shouted. "You're killing my eardrums!"

Sky groaned. "Alright, we'll come up with more info about plans and such later. Dismissed!"

* * *

**_There you go, I hoped you like it. Now, onto the OCs. I need 5 of them, and they may be slightly tweaked for the story. No, unfortunately, they will not be part of Team Crafted. You have 5 OC categories to choose from:_**

**The Rose: This OC is kind of like a sub-leader, with some control over the others but not completely.**

**The Ocean: This OC has a outward calm and quiet appearance, but is often hiding its true feelings.**

**The Prince/Princess of Sleep: All smiles on the outside, but occasionally, one can see how unstable this OC is**

**The Warrior: Despite the name, this OC is often used for chores, which annoys it**

**The Sniper: Skilled with a bow and arrow**

**They should be 16-25 years old, and it would help if you were very descriptive about their appearance. Their personalities, while some of them could be little predetermined, that doesn't mean you can't tweak it just a little. **

**_Those are the categories and guidelines, the rest is up to all of you, my awesome readers! Leave your OCs in the reviews, and the ones that are picked will be drawn when I get all of them, and the picture will be uploaded to my DeviantArt account when it's sketched *cough* that's why I need detail on appearance *cough*_**


	4. KeyRing

_**I currently only have three OCs, and they're all girls. Not that I don't like them, I just hoped for some male OCs. So, go please take a look at the OC bases and leave me with an OC. **_

_**And now, for those who have submitted OCs, Team Crafted pairings are not possible. Okay, it could be, but I can't write romance. Hence why it's "Adventure/Mystery". Also, the only thing that will really be changed is OC history and color schemes to clothes. Like, if you submitted an OC for Rose, it would be nice if it had more of a red color scheme. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't use your OC if you don't do this :3 It is just more convenient for me. Anyway, that's enough for now, onto the story!**_

* * *

Three days after that little "adventure", the leaders of Team Crafted, and Bodil, who decided to go with them, arrived at MC, the largest city in Minecraftia. Their aim? To see whether the police force there knew anything about the Keys.

"It's right there," Seto said, pointing to an obsidian building. "MC's central police station."

The team just stood there for a second before Jerome said, "What we we waiting for? Leggo!" He walked straight up to the door, opened it, and marched in. Bodil suddenly let out a laugh, his grin widening.

"You're making them stare at us!" Seto hissed, glancing about nervously.

"Oh, you are too shy Seto. Come on, laugh a little!" Bodil snickered, earning a heated glare from Seto and amused looks from the rest of the group.

"Hello? We'd like to see the police comissioner," Sky said to the receptionist. She glanced up, then calmly dialed a number.

"Team Crafted is here to see you... Alright, I'll send them up." She hung up and pointed toward a set of stairs."Just go up the stairs and follow the glowstone path. It should end in front of room 101."

"Alright!" Mitch charged up the stairs, Jerome right behind him. Jason, Husky, and Sky went after them while SSundee and Seto thanked the receptionist before following.

They quickly arrived at door 101, where Sky knocked on the door. They heard someone say, "Come in!"

The team slowly shuffled in and sat in the chairs around the walls as the police comissioner watched. When they got comfortable, he spoke. "I am Jonathan, the police comissioner. Most just call me the PC, so whichever is fine. And for what reasons would Team Crafted need to see me for?"

Jason spoke up. "We have uncovered a bit of the squids' plans. We don't know much about what they seek."

"They are searching for?"

"The Keys."

PC's eyes widened, and he glanced around carefully before leaning in closer. "This is dangerous stuff you are about to hear. If you were anyone else, I would refuse to tell you this information. This seems vital to your mission, so I will tell you."

The Team Crafted members looked shocked before recovering and scooting in closer to hear the story.

"We've gathered bits and pieces of information, and this is what we have." PC moved a painting on his wall to the side, revealing a safe. After unlocking it, it revealed another safe and piles of paper. He gently pushed the papers aside to unlock the next safe, revealing yet another safe, which he unlocked to reveal a single mamilla envelope. PC removed the enveloped, then shut the safes and replaced the painting.

"This envelope contains most the information, but I will tell you it because it does not necessarily contain the most important information." PC handed the envelope to Seto, who tucked it into a special bag he had, which allowed him to store many things without worry of losing it.

When PC was assured of its safety, he began.

"The Keys are members of a very well hidden criminal organization called the KeyRing. No one knows how members are initiated, but once a Key, always a Key. They are assigned numbers, and a code name. Traitors are murdered and the bodies are left in the public to be seen. Each Key operates separately, but when needed, they will strike together. So far, we only know of a few members, with No. 5, the Assassin, and No. 7, the Witch. Those two are prominently known because No. 5, as his code name suggests, tends to be the one who murders whoever the Ringleader wants dead. No. 7 has taken control of a high security prison and allowed No. 5 to murder the prisoners and splatter their remains over several police buildings, and with the message, written in blood, 'No. 5 and 7 says Hello'."

Several Team Crafted members winced upon hearing how the remains of thr prisoners were gruesomely displayed to the public.

"Yes, and we don't know how many Keys there are, and whether their number actually represents something or is just another way to refer to one another. The most popular theory, which also seems the most likely, is that the Ringleader is Herobrine himself, and he communicates to the world through his 'Keys'. If that is so, then he probably wants to destroy us all, seeing as the Keys aren't too friendly with us."

"That explains why the squids thought they could defeat us if they captured the Keys. Herobrine, if he is the Ringleader, can't come to the Overworld or have complete control over the monsters. He can only influence those who go to the Nether. So, somehow, he managed to connect some people, and he corrupted them. Since the Keys are his only way to influence the Overworld, controlling them is pretty much like controlling his power," Seto realized. "If that happens, it'll be too difficult, maybe even impossible, to defeat the squids."

"That can't happen!" Sky jumped up from his seat, teeth gritted. "They can't harness Herobrine's power!"

"Sky's right, we can't. Squids would turn everything into chaos, which would probably release Herobrine from the Nether or something. Then he'll take over from the squids, and the situation will be a thousand times more worse," Bajan said, staring at his comrades.

"Take the envelope. Use it to stop the squids." PC smiled at them. "I know you can do it."

Suddenly, Bodil asked, "You are hiding something. I can tell." Unseen by the others due his sunglasses, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Don't just accuse him of hiding secrets Bodil. He was nice enough to give us the information we needed. Give the man a break," Jerome scolded.

PC sighed. "Sadly, Bodil is right... Now that I have given you what information we have, No. 5 and 7, with their connections and power, will probably kill me."

"B-but why would you give it to us in the first place? You could have said you knew nothing!" Sky replied in disbelief.

"The safety of many overrides the needs of one. It will not be in vain though. Someday, they would have come for me, and the information. To destroy the one who holds too much information about their ring. To pass it onto one who can stop them will help more than sealing it in this safe would. And don't worry," PC added, "Most of my family are within the police or protection force, they understand the risks and if anything happens, they'll simply fight harder so my life won't be in vain."

"Then even in death, may you ever be triumphant," Seto said softly, staring sadly at PC.

There was a tense and sad moment of silence, before Jason shouted, "Guys, there's a problem back at base! Janis and Vee just put out an alert!"

"WHAT?" Jerome and Seto shouted, eyes widening in shock. One of their sub-leaders had put an alert? Unless something had happened, there would have been no way one would have been put out.

"I'm sorry, but we have to go!" Jerome ran out the door, worry showing clearly.

"I'm going to help biggums!" Bajan followed Jerome out, catching up quickly.

"Wait!" Seto ran after them, not even remembering that he could use a bit of magic to speed up.

"Guys, wait!" Jason called, but glanced back at PC. PC understood. "Go see what is the matter. I will be fine."

Sky's jaw just tightened, before giving a tense, but thankful nod and taking off with everyone else. Bodil gave one glance behind him to see PC staring back, a sad, final, smile on a face saying he knew it was over for him... And he was depending on them all to stop the evil arising.

* * *

**_And done~ Cliffhanger! Thanks for reading this chapter, it means the world to me even if I do have very few reviews. Regarding that topic, I hope you guys would review more. For all of you who write stories as well, you know as well as I do that reviews are like a life source to us. Some writers can't contain their happiness over even one review, so please, leave me one :3 and for the OCs, Warrior is now close because I just realized something... And you probably know what the OCs are for now. If you wish to withdraw your OC, feel free to do so._**


	5. Attacked

**_Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a great time with whoever you're spending it with :3 _**

**_Besides that, I finally got a male OC. Even though it's not a big deal, it just is. YOU DONT UNDERSTAND! MOST WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT!_**

**_*coughs* Besides the fact I'm insane and you people are awesome readers despite zilch reviews (JK! You guys are awesome! :D), this is not a pairing story. I am TERRIBLE at romance. Pairings are just not gonna happen, at least in this story. I might write a romance someday. Then I'll have to survive the waves of fangirls e.o Anyway, ONTO THE STORY!_**

**_Oh, and POVs! Finally!_**

* * *

**POV: Seto**

'No no no no no no' Was the only thought running through my head. Vee, who I had pretty much adopted as my little sister, put out an alert? She had never put out an alert before, prefering someone else do it while she attempted to hold the enemy off. Not even when the squids almost kidnapped Husky did she sound the alarm, despite being next to it. She had simply shouted at the others to hit the alarm before chasing after the squids, armed with nothing but her magic. Same the with the creeper attack, the Endermen.

So, why now?

I glanced at Jerome, knowing he was worried as well. Janis was a bacca/human hybrid created by the smartest squid we've ever discovered. He knew enough to make hybrids, but was too engrossed within his experiments to properly disguise his hideout, being a shack with a sign that said, "Definitely NOT a squid hideout". Classic squid stupidity.

Knowing the scientist squid, while not a huge threat at the time, would become a enormous threat if not stopped, Jerome and Mitch were sent to take the squid out, and when they returned, they had only Janis in tow, unconscious and close to death. When asked, they said Janis was the only one who didn't die from the explosion caused by the squid's machinery failing.

Being a bacca himself, Jerome took it upon himself to care for the girl, and now the two were very close.

I met Vee when asked by Sky to destroy a squid base only a few months ago. They had kidnapped an entire village, and upon defeating the squids, the village had sustained heavy losses. I hung back, letting Jason do the talking because this was one of those villages which weren't very accepting of magic. When Jason was helping up front, I backed him up by providing him with whatever he needed.

It was almost night time, and I was outside, near the jungle, when I saw tiny blue lights.

And now, we were both rushing to get home, desperate to see why they had sounded the alarm. I glanced behind me, watching as the rest of the team caught up. My stomach churned with guilt, knowing we had simply taken off without even warning them, but they didn't seem to be bothered.

We quickly bordered the ship and used the teleport feature. This method was risky because it could cause the ship to shut down for a few days, but there was no choice.

Upon returning, we landed in the middle of chaos. Recruits, Mages, and Stars alike were banding together to fend off the seemingly endless waves of mobs. Barely anything was destroyed, luckily, but the armies were struggling.

In the thick of it were the youngest of the Crafted subleaders. Vee, Janis, and Tyler (MunchingBrotato) were backed up against one another, with Vee striking the enemies with magic, Tyler lowering their health, and Janis finishing them off, making quick work of their enemies.

However, a stray skeleton arrow caught my eye as it headed straight for Vee. My eyes narrowed angrily and I shouted something in the enchanting language. I felt a huge surge of power blast outward, disintegrating all skeletons within five miles.

Everyone just stared in shock, before giving a cheer and fighting back more fiercely, hopes boosted.

"JEEEROOOME! IT'S TIME TO WIN THE HUNGER DEANS!" Mitch shouted, pulling out a bow and shooting down several mobs at once. "KATNISS BABY!"

Jerome cracked a grin before pulling out Betty (Diamond axe) and cleaving through monster after monster. I followed, casting spells which ranged from fire to a sudden blast of wind slicing down mob after mob.

* * *

**POV: Sky**

Startled, but determined to defend the base, we all pulled out our weapons of choice and attacked the mobs. Endermen, spiders, zombies, and creepers. Seto, who had a sudden burst of power, eliminated the skeletons, which greatly improved our chances. All we had to do now was take down the rest of the mobs. They were all close range combat too, which made it easier to defend and attack in many different ways.

But the attack didn't make sense. There were too many Endermen, attacking anyone in sight. I'm positive that almost no one glanced into their eyes, so why would they be hostile?

There was also the fact that the mobs seemed organized. The creepers always came in groups of 4, so that when one was taken down, the other three would take its place. Three creepers at once would probably be suicide unless you were fast enough to evade them all.

Zombies came in huge hordes and while not being too strong, often overwhelmed the person attacking. The spiders spun more cobwebs within the base, dooming whoever got trapped inside.

Why were the mobs 'smarter'?

Why would they attack us? We've only targeted mob spawners that threatened cities, towns, and villagers along with squids. Why were the mobs so aggressive?

Mob after mob flooded into the holes in the defensive wall, which was continually (but slowly) being taken down by creepers and Endermen. Recruits, Stars, and Mages fought back to back, but we were severely outnumbered. Everywhere I looked, more people fell as the mobs slowly pushed us back into our own bases.

"Sky!" Celeste shouted, running over to me. She was the Stars' subleader, and while very kind, was easily startled and scared. "W-where's Jason?"

I quickly scanned my surroundings. "Jason is where the creepers are! And don't push yourself to far. If you get scared, don't be afraid to back off and support your fellow Stars."

She smiled, but I could tell that she was on the verge of bursting into tears. "D-don't worry! I-I have to be s-s-strong! F-for everyone!" She then hurried off toward where the most creepers were.

I glanced in that direction, worried, but my mind was soon on the task of defeating the Endermen, which terrified most of the new recruits. The trick was to keep moving so the Endermen wouldn't just sneak up and attack you. With that strategy, I had finished off another Enderman when I spotted an exhausted group of recruits being attacked by spiders and three Endermen. I charged toward them, mind focused on protecting them.

"Stay strong, recruits!" I yelled, jumping in front of them and taking the brunt of the attack. I slashed down the spiders fiercely, but not before they dealt me damage in the form of a cut on my sword arm.

I gritted my teeth, in pain, but the Endermen were still trying to attack, leaving no time for breaks. Through sheer willpower, I defeated all three and smiled at the group, who grinned back. They all pulled out potions of healing, which helped my cut.

"Recruits! Let's move! There's other that need help as well!"

"Yes Sir!"

* * *

**POV: ?**

"Wow, they are actually holding up! This experiment is SOO much fun!"

"..."

"Too quiet. Hmph. Anyway, it seems he's within their base, and since we aren't allowed to destroy them yet, I'll have to call off the attack. Go deliver the message to the others."

* * *

**POV: Bajan**

It had to have been at least an hour before I noticed that there were less mobs. I looked around, and realized the mobs were leaving! They were literally retreating.

I ran up to the huge announcer. "HEY DOODS! THE MOBS ARE RETREATING!" The announcer amplified my voice, allowing everyone to hear it.

Cheers came up as the rest of the mobs disappeared into the darkness of the jungle.

"Hey, Bajan. Let me say something," Sky said, running up to me. That was when I noticed he had a deep looking cut on his arm.

"Sky, your arm!" I gasped. "Have the medic unit look at it!"

"Not right now, I'll be fine. A cut is not that big a deal." Sky cracked a grin. I moved over so he could use the announcer, but kept a wary eye just in case the cut was worse than he let on.

"Recruits! We have fought off the waves of monsters, but not without a price. We first need to repair the defensive walls and take care of those wounded or," I paused, swallowing. "Dead. It doesn't seem like anything else is a problem, because our food and armories weren't touched. The leaders will be meeting to discuss our next moves. It is very important to work together at this crucial moment in time. It will be tough, but we will he through this. Recruits, move out!"

A soft murmur spread throughout the army as they dispersed to carry out their seperate tasks.

* * *

**POV: Jason**

We ended up having to meet up in an empty bedroom because our real meeting room was too far up for easy reports. Actually, it wasn't empty. The boy we found was moved to this bedroom because it was the only empty room they could find that wasn't too far from the medical ward. Pretty convenient for them, huh.

"I don't understand how the monsters got in! How did they get past the defenses?" Bajan was bewildered.

"My medics are working overtime, there's just too many wounded." Dawnables (AKA Dawn) slumped against her chair, worry showing. She refused to sit at the table and instead sat next to bed where the boy was sleeping. I understood. She couldn't help her fellow medics due to the meeting, and felt useless, so she was compensating the best she could.

Everyone was here, anxious, worried.

Bajan and Jerome were talking softly, glancing at Sky worriedly every fifteen seconds. SSundee was staring at a spot on the table. I think. His sunglasses hid his eyes, so I couldn't tell. Dawn was checking on the boy, who was curled up into a ball, shivering. Still asleep, even after almost 5 days. Husky was out, grabbing food so we could eat. Seto crossed his arms and lay his head on them, his hoodie blocking out the light. I sympathized, we were all tired.

I watched Sky glance around, hiding his right arm. Was something wrong with it?

I shook off the worry. Husky had came back with the food and everyone was now paying attention, albeit Seto, who still had his head down.

"Ok. Now that we are all here, report what's up with your section or army," Sky asked, earning a glare from Dawn.

"I already told you, the medics are working overtime. There's too many injured. It's not that we can't handle it, but there's just not enough space, so they're forced to move a farther distance than normal."

"Alright." Sky swallowed. "Anything else?"

"The melee and Katniss units are both hunting with the hunting units. Seeing as there's so many injured, we gotta stock up on food so we don't have to hunt as much," Bajan said among murmurs of approval.

"The Stars, SSundee's, and pretty much everyone else is working on wall repairs," I said. "We've got plenty of materials, we just have to worry about being attacked again."

"Yeah. I don't know what that was, but I've never seen so many mobs attack like that," Jerome interjected. "Hey Seto, know if anything like this happened before?"

We all turned expectantly to Seto, who still had his head down.

"Seto?" Jerome gently poked him, but Seto didn't budge.

"Dood, wake up!" Jerome poked him again. Hard.

"Umf..." Seto lifted his head, squinting against the light. "What?"

"We asked whether you knew if organized mob attacks happened before," I prompted.

"Uh... I think, once. About ten or so tears ago," Seto replied, putting his head down again.

"Seto, you okay?" I glanced at the readings my helmet gave me. Seto was exhausted, and seriously needed some rest, along with water and maybe an enchanted golden apple to help compensate for lost energy. Probably because of that huge burst of power that demolished all the skeletons. It must have taken a big toll on Seto.

Seto didn't answer, prompting Jerome to shake him gently. When Seto didn't react, Jerome attempted to shake him again, but I stopped him.

"Seto's exhausted. Apparently that huge power burst that destroyed the skeletons took more out of him than we thought," I explained.

Sky nodded. "Okay, this will be good for now, but we have to prepare and train a bit harder. We can't let this happen again."

"It probably has something to do with the KeyRing, who or whatever they are," Husky thought aloud.

"How-"

BANG! Sky was interrupted by the door slamming open. TBNRfrags, AKA Preston, barged into the room.

"Guys! This is really bad!" Preston yelled. "Mobs, especially undead ones, are going crazy! Anyone who enters the Nether is going to be mauled by the mobs! Nights are going to be even more dangerous because skeletons and zombies, if not all the mobs, are actually going to be attacking in bigger groups!"

We all stared at him (albeit Seto), mouths open in shock.

Sky was the first to recover. "What do you mean, 'even more dangerous'? Why are they all so aggravated?" He demanded, somewhat desperate.

Preston drew a shuddering breath. "Because Number 9 escaped."

* * *

**_Yes! Plot is finally moving along a bit more! *celebratory party* I hope you liked this chapter :3 sorry about the long wait though. School, then dragged along shopping trips o.e _**

**_Anyway, I have found quite a few good OCs. The ones left are The Ocean and Princess of Sleep. I've gotten at least two to three OCs on both, and I just haven't decided which one works best with the role._**

**_Hope you liked the chapter (again xD), and enjoy the holidays!_**


	6. Awake

**_OC submissions closed! _**

**_That's it folks, read the chapter!_**

* * *

**POV: TBNRfrags**

They just stared at me shocked. Well, I did interrupt a super important meeting shouting about how mobs were going to be more dangerous and that a number escaped.

"Okay. Number 9 escaped, and now mobs, especially undead ones, are going crazy," I said.

"Number 9 as in the KeyRing?" Sky asked. I stared at him, returning the shock.

"You know about them?"

"Yes! Tell us what you know about them!"

"Okay, calm down. I've only heard of the group from other lava mobs such as myself because the others, like I said, have gone crazy." I took a deep breath. "The KeyRing is Herobrine's way of influencing the Overworld. Some of the members went to him willingly, some he created, and the rest he kidnapped for their abilities. There's ten members, including him, and each are powerful in their own way. I don't know much about the members, but Number 9 managed to escape from the Nether and is now in the Overworld."

"Wait, what? Shouldn't they all be in the Overworld?" Jason questioned.

"Most are, but there's like, two or three that stay inside the Nether. Supposedly, Number 9 is one of them."

"Why is it so bad that he escaped? I mean, it sounds like he never wanted to be a part of it," Dawn asked.

"Yes, true, but it would be better if he stayed in either the Nether or the Aether, because now he's fair game."

"Fair game?" This time it was Bajan.

"Fair game for either the gods or Herobrine. You see, it seems Number 9 was the son of Solarius (the Sun god). Herobrine kidnapped him along with his cousin, and hid him in the Nether so the gods can't find him. But now he's in the Overworld, meaning anyone can find him, and the gods, or at least Solarius, will pretty much destroy anything to get him back. Same with Herobrine."

"Why would Herobrine want Number 9 back?" Husky.

"Because he's The Dead, or pretty much the leader of mobs. Specifically the undead ones. And that's not all. You know how I mentioned how he had a cousin who was kidnapped with him? She's probably flipping out and trying to find No. 9 as well. And note, 'cousin'. Means that she's probably a daughter of another god. Maybe the moon one. So yeah, that's why the mobs have gone crazy and several supernaturally powerful beings are probably freaking out."

"Do you know anything else about the KeyRing? Anything at ALL?" Sky seemed anxious to know more. Mobs did demolish his base though, and he probably wanted to know more about it.

"No, but I can try to find some more mob friends and see what they know," I offered. Hope shone in all the exhausted faces around the table.

"You would do that? For us?" Sky asked, standing up.

"Yes. I would." They were in a tight situation, and I knew I had to help.

"Thank you so much." Sky sank back into his seat. "You can go to the armories and the kitchen to prepare, if you want."

"Right!" I exited the room and headed toward the armory.

* * *

**POV: Dawn**

We all watched as TBNRfrags left. I really wished he would get back okay, but like always, I knew that the chances of being injured would be high. It didn't help that all the mobs were riled up. Once he left, I spoke up.

"Do you think the number that escaped... Do you think..." I turned to the boy sleeping in the bed. "He's right here?"

There was a tense silence as everyone glanced contemplated the possibility.

"It probably is." We all jumped at Seto's voice. It was still hoarse and soft, but audible. "Think about it. The squids kidnap him, and they call him a Key. They probably knew, somehow, about the connection. I don't think they realized just how powerful an entity they were dealing with."

Another silence.

"Knowing the squids, it's probably true," Sky sighed. "Most are too dumb to realize everything. But at least we know more about the KeyRing and why we were attacked."

Suddenly, we heard a groan. I glanced beside me to see the boy's eyes flutter open before before they closed. I could tell he didn't fall back asleep.

"He's awake," I murmured softly.

* * *

**POV: Deadlox (AKA Ty)**

I groaned as I woke up, eyes fluttering open. I shut them quickly as bright lights stung my eyes. I was dimly aware of something else in the room, but it was hard to focus because my body hurt all over.

I didn't move for a few seconds. Then, I slowly opened my eyes to see my surroundings. The light stung again, and I had to resort to squinting.

There were eight other people in the room. A girl, 5 boys, a bacca, and something blue.

It took a moment to sink in.

There were other people.

And I didn't know them.

My mind instantly screamed escape, and my body responded. The people were blocking the door, so I ended up crouching fearfully in the corner next to the bed I was asleep on.

Then it hit me.

Two voices started screaming in my head.

The first was harsh and cold. _"Kill them! Demolish them! If that's not possible, torture them, the insolent people who deserve to perish!"_

The other was softer, but urgent. _"Run, run, far away! You must come back to where you can hide!"_

_"Don't listen to the weak one, destroy them all! Your powers are more than enough to do so!"_ The first voice yelled.

_"Just run!"_ The second one urged. _"There's no need to kill them. If you attack them, they'll know, and they will try to use you!"_

_"If they die, they can't touch him! It's only logic!"_

_"Others could find out! You should have never taken him!"_

They continued to argue back and forth. My head felt like it was going to explode. I pressed my hands to my head, wishing desperately that they would shut up.

* * *

**POV: Sky**

"How do we help him?" I questioned, watching the cowering brunette tremble violently. I had reached out to him, but he flinched away from my touch and attempted to shrink into the wall.

"Maybe he needs a belly rub?" Husky replied, sounding very unsure.

"Now is not the time for belly rubs Quentin," Dawn replied slowly, probably in disbelief at his suggestion.

"Gimme a sec. I'm asking the subleaders what they would do if a friend was absolutely terrified of something and won't respond to you. I'm not telling them everything, unless you want me to," Jason added, seeing the looks on our faces.

We waited patiently, kind of, for maybe thirty seconds before I asked, "Anything?"

"Janis says to comfort them, and keep them around stuff that makes em feel better, Celeste says the same as Janis, Fia is busy at the moment along with some of the other subleaders, Emer says to just watch them and make sure they don't do anything dangerous, and Vee says to give them a hug. If they don't like the hug, too bad, because apparently you'll be hugging them to make them feel better," Jason reported.

"..."

"We can't comfort him, we don't know what's wrong, and we don't know what he likes. So... That leaves the other two options," I reasoned.

"Watching him or hugging him?" The other stared at me in disbelief.

"Well... What else can we do?"

"..."

"Exactly. So, we have to choose. Hug, or just watching him."

Everyone considered for moment.

"I choose hug. Hugs make you feel loved, or a lot more loved than when people are staring you down," Dawn pointed out. "Plus, we can't really spare anyone to watch him, at least not until the wall is repaired."

"I vote Sky or Dawn hug him," Bajan said quickly.

"Same."

"I agree with you dood."

"I vote yes on that."

"Agreed."

"So, we all agree it's either Sky or Dawn?"

"What? We don't get a say in this?" Dawn demanded.

"And the job is sold to Sky!" Jerome yelped quickly. No one wanted to face the Healer's wrath.

"Ugh... I regret nothing," I said, as I approached the trembling boy.

"Do it for Sky Army, for your recruits, if you need inspiration," Jerome offered.

I didn't reply as I reached out to the boy, who flinched at my touch. I finally got him into a hug, and he tensed up completely, purple eyes wide in shock. He shifted, but his movements were weak.

I glared at everyone. Most of them were smirking. Probably amused or something.

Slowly, the boy relaxed. He blinked, a lot. To him, I was a stranger, and if some stranger just hugged me, I'd probably be pretty shocked too.

"Mngh..." The boy then just fell asleep. He snuggled up into my chest, earning a few smirks. from the others.

"I hate you guys so much. When we do parkour, in a non-life threatening situation, I swear I will knock you guys off. And when that day comes, I will regret nothing." I glared at them, before lifting the boy back onto the bed.

Then we heard knocks on the door.

"Seto?"

"Sky?"

"Dawn?"

"Bajan?"

Four subleaders, coming in to report at once. There could only be-

"There's a problem."

S***, a problem.

* * *

**_WHOOHOO! Yeah! Everyone party! Ty finally woke up! All the OCs have been chosen! There was some #Skylox! They won't be a pairing, but there are a LOT of Skylox fans, so eh, why not just a tiny little bit? It makes up for the not a pairing story. I'm just talking in circles here, lol, I'm so random._**

**_If there's anything you'd like to chat about, I'm happy to oblige :3 I love talking to my viewers :D_**

**_Anyway, Happy one-day-late Christmas (despite yesterday's update xD) and if I don't get a new chapter up by New Years, Happy New Year!_**


	7. The 'Devils' Assemble

**_So, I got a request about a list of all the chosen OCs. Don't worry, it's revealed this chapter! :D I'm also working on the drawing, but it's tough cuz I have to fit all of them on one sheet of paper xD anyway, let the story begin!_**

* * *

**POV: Sky**

"What's wrong?" I had a sick feeling in my gut. Were recruits kidnapped? Supplies suddenly gone?

"There's a lot of mobs inside the butter rooms. And when I mean a lot, I mean the rooms are packed to the point of bursting and filled with creepers and Endermen," Apotis, Bajan's subleader, replied. Apotis is 17 with dark green hair, tanned skin, camouflage (is it cameo or camo for short?) clothes, and black shoes. He was a good archer, but faltered every once in a while in fear of accidentally shooting his comrades.

"They're supercharged creepers too," Vee interjected. Vee was Seto's sister and his subleader despite being only 14. She had short brown hair and purple eyes. Vee wore a purple shirt along with silver shorts, silver boots, purple gloves, and a red obi she tied into a bow around her waist. Like Seto, she too was a sorcerer. Or sorceress.

"We can't attack them because they'll blow up the butter and possibly big parts of the building. Apotis placed some archers at a few holes in the room so they can shoot them down," Emer said, "But it's still risky, and it leaves the Endermen. Who knows where they'll teleport to?" Emer was Dawn's subleader. He wore a white shirt and black pants, both edged in gold along with a gray messenger bag that held his medical supplies.

Tyler (MunchingBrotato), my little brother, was nodding as the other three explained the situation. Along with Fia, he was my subleader. Like Vee, he too was fourteen. Tyler wore large glasses that did not suit the armor he was wearing, but without his armor, suited his red and gray checkered jacket, white shirt, and jeans perfectly.

"I got some other recruits to continuously circle the place to make sure the Endermen don't destroy the room," Tyler added.

I stood up. "Subleaders, stay here and watch the boy. We'll take care of this. And when I say we, I mean the leaders." There was no way I was going to let the creepers and Endermen get my butter.

* * *

**POV: Vee**

The four of us watched as our leaders left the room. Except Seto. He was still asleep head down on the table.

"You think they can do it?" I questioned. "Without damaging anything?"

"We just have to believe," Emer sighed. "Knowing Sky though, he will try to be more cautious due to the fact that the entire base, anyone within it, and the butter is in danger. So the chances of it being successful are pretty much 100%, unlike the normal 60% or something."

"Hey!" Tyler shouted. "My big brother can handle anything!"

Emer sighed. "Yes, he can definitely handle the huge amounts of fangirls he, along with the others, attract."

Apotis and I laughed at the statement, while Tyler just turned pink and muttered something I couldn't hear under his breath.

"Why are you so loud?" Seto grumbled, lifting his head and squinting against the light. I grinned, because Jason had told me that Seto needed an enchanted butter apple because of how much magic he exerted during the fight.

"Hey Seto, doctor's order. An apple a day keeps the exhaustion away!" I shoved a slice of the enchanted butter into his mouth, and watched as he ate/choked on it. He glared at me, opening his mouth.

"Love you too!" I hugged him before he said a word and placed the rest of the apple in front of him.

Seto just sighed, defeated, before finishing off the apple.

"So, Seto, who's this boy who's so important you have to have a meeting in the same room where he's sleeping in?" Apotis questioned, cinnamon brown eyes staring at him curiously.

"Yeah! Who's this guy?" Tyler asked.

"We think he's part of an evil organization," Seto sighed. Ha, he knew we wouldn't stop pestering him if he didn't tell us.

"So he's evil?" Emer was confused.

"Maybe. TBNRfrags said he's the descendent of Solarius, supposedly. That boy was never supposed to be in this group, but the leader apparently kidnapped him along with his cousin."

"Where exactly did you guys come across the descendant of a god?!" I exclaimed.

"Sky's, Husky's, and Jason's little adventure."

"The squids found a descendant of a god."

"Yes."

"..."

"There's nothing to be said about that."

* * *

**POV: Number 4**

**Location: Herobrine's Fortress**

I knew He was going to call a meeting. Especially after the two escaped.

Seeing as they grilled helpless human adventurer for details, how could they not want to go to the Overworld?

All they've known was the Nether, the place of fire, of darkness, of fear, of danger, but not to them. The mobs know better than to attack us. Especially those two. As Herobrine's son and the leader of the undead mobs, attempting to attack those two and kill them would mean some eternal torture.

They've seen so many people in torture, in pain, but they haven't seen much of the positive.

They don't quite know love. The two were always watched by Herobrine, making it hard for me to try to be sisterly, despite not being related to one, and only a cousin to the other. It's tough, being so close yet so far.

The human had told them about the moon, the sun, the stars, of the fresh breeze, huge mountains, of animals that aren't normally hostile.

He had told them of a soft, cool breeze, a sense of freedom, because the Overworld had a sky, and wasn't a seemingly endless cave.

He had told them of forests, of deserts, of beaches, of jungles, of the ocean.

He had told them of civilization, of how magnificent and grand some buildings were.

He had told them of diverse foods, from fruit to cake, something that was not mushroom stew, something new and flavorful.

He had told them of how humans coexist in peace, or at least in a mutual feeling.

He had told them that the land was peaceful, with wars few, and danger only in the wilderness.

And, of course, he had told them of positive feelings, happiness, freedom, joy, love, friendship, content.

And, in the end, he had told them too much. I killed him through my path. No one knew, except maybe He himself. They all thought he did a suicide, like my path made him do. I did not wish to, but for the sake of the fragile peace the world balanced on, I did it.

And now they escaped, in hopes of a freedom that could doom all.

The gods and the devils are now at war. The gods have tried to prevent the shockwaves from hitting the humans. But the mobs have alerted them. The humans know something is up.

I don't blame those two. Sometimes, when you are caged, all you want is a way out, something to change. One has never experienced the positivity the Overworld offers, the other remembers the faintest of experiences, but not in the Overworld, but in another place, where instead of being a huge cave, is a huge island. The concepts were similar though. No matter where you went, it was the same. No way out or off, and always watched.

I myself, after experiencing the Overworld, instantly knew how lucky the humans were. Despite the hate, the anger, the fights, the wars, the many things that sit out of their reach, they had freedom, choices, a path that they choose.

The gods, mobs, and devils are not quite as lucky. Their fate tends to be set after a while, if not the moment they were born. Always attempting to keep everything in balance.

The gods provide the 'good' to the land, like food, meat, forests, trying to keep that fragile world ticking.

The devils provide the 'bad' to the land, like destruction, pain anger, sadness, danger. They try to 'tip' that delicately balanced scale, that fragile clock called 'Overworld'.

When you think about, their roles are not so different.

* * *

**POV: Number 4**

And now, we ten devils assemble.

Except two were gone.

"We should _murder _them," Number 5 said. "If they turn their backs in us, they should be eliminated."

Number 5 was the famous Assasin. The creation of Herobrine, his path is blood and gore. The messy way to die. His human name was Kurai Rukend. He always wore a cloak, so no one really knew what he wore underneath. If he put his hoodie down, as it was now, it would reveal jet black hair and vivid orange eyes.

"I agree with 5, but instead, I want them for my experiments. They've never really exerted their powers. If I could only know about how it works..." Number 7 suggested. Number 7 was known as the Magician or the Witch, known everywhere amongst the police and criminals for taking over the high security prison. If she went into her mortal form, she was called Lylia (lie-lee-ah) Magitch. She had four subordinates that called themselves Klüb IcE who managed the prison when she left, meaning that her test subjects are never given the chance to escape. She too, was a creation of Herobrine, and her path was corruption, or a slow, painful death. When in mortal form, she liked wearing kimonos, dresses, and skirts, but when in her non-mortal form, she wore short sleeves that still somehow flowed along with long pants and a cloak.

"They left because they wanted to be _happy_. My path would be the best choice for them. All is happy under the spell of sleep." Number 3, or the Princess of Sleep. She firmly believes that happiness is achieved in sleep or death, which she calls "eternal sleep". Her real name is Sophiette Marquiia, the girl who turned her entire hometown into a ghost town. She came willingly to the KeyRing, believing that we could help her with her work. Sophiette had medium length icy blue hair with those wide innocent break eyes. She had an angelic face with fair skin that almost seemed a dusty blue when in the moonlight. She currently wore her normal clothes. A baby blue crop top, blue jean capris, baby blue sneakers. Her path was ignorance, or death by sleep, or a peaceful death. Maybe.

And those three, always the first to share their opinions, always the first to judge, and the first to fight. All three were ambitious, seeing the world through very different eyes.

"You are forgetting the paths they have. The ones they have are important," Number 1 replied, appraising the three with piercing green eyes. Number 1 was the Rose, her real name Samantha "Sam" Winchester, and with mid-length brown hair that had gold highlights, red quarter sleeved flannel jacket, jeans, and short brown boots, she fit her name perfectly. Simple, yet pretty, like a rose. Sam was very smart, and could shoot down a lot of arguments with her wits, thus her "thorns". Her path was deception, and death by nature, like illnesses.

"That's why my way is best," The Magician answered. "They're still alive, so their paths stay open."

The Rose narrowed her eyes. "And how long can you guarantee that they won't die? How long until your experiments eventually destroy them? How long until your experiments cause their powers to self destruct?"

"..." The Magician had no answer, and instead just glared angrily back.

Number 2 cut in. "The only person who's plan would really work is Sophiette's, and it has to be the temporary sleep one. I know you'd like them to be happy forever, but we have to secure their paths first." Number 2 was also dubbed the Ocean by No. 0, and from what I see, this fit him. His real name was Nai Essandré, and has been in the KeyRing for as long as all the current members, not counting He himself, could remember. He is laid back, a bit of a happy-go-lucky sort. Rarely anyone gets on his bad side, but when someone does, I heard that he goes ballistic on the offender. He has deep blue hair that is almost black, cerulean blue eyes, tan skin and wears a two-tone blue shirt with short, diagonally cut sleeves, long jean shorts, tan sandals, and a seashell necklace on a tan string. His path is death by time, or old age. Going with the 'flow' of Time.

"Aargh! You and your 'go with the flow' concept. We have to do something about this!" The Assasin growled, slamming his hands down on the table.

"Sometimes, it is the best way to go. We might as well as wait for them to appear," The Ocean replied, unfazed.

"How do you suggest we find them if WE DON'T DO S***, A**HOLE! YOU'RE JUST A USELESS MEMBER, I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY WE HAVEN'T ALREADY GOTTEN RID OF YOU!"

"That is enough!" The Rose stood up. "Do not make me have to ask Zero (Number 0) to come and manage this when he is currently busy."

There was silence. Normally, Zero would be here, but as the Rose said, he was busy. With what, no one would ever know.

Everyone contemplated their next move in this unnatural council.

"Number 4 knows something..." Number 8, The Sniper. A complete enigma, and very evasive. His name is Max Carson, a brunette with curly hair, dark green eyes, and tan skin. He wears a brown cloak that has a hood that drapes over his face. Underneath the cloak is a green tee shirt and black jeans. On his back is a leather quiver with arrows and the bow he was given. I assume the arrows are special or just for show, because that bow he carries has the infinity enchantment. He also wears brown combat boots. He rarely talks and is really good at parkour. This helps when he's asked to kill someone. I was asked to watch him on an assassination mission to judge his capability, and with those parkour skills, he reached the top floor of the high security building, located a weak spot, and aimed at the target. One shot was all that was needed to take the target down before he disappeared into the night.

I stared at him, a little angry, a little sad.

"Well? What is it, The Eclipse?" The Assassin insisted. They all stared at me, judging carefully, trying to make sure I didn't lie because of my path.

I, as Number 4, am also known as the Eclipse. I have silvery white hair held in a ponytail in a crescent moon clip, along with my bangs being held back two similar clips. Silvery long clothes, with a hoodie, and a crescent shaped hip bag that carries my stuff. My real name is Lunara Crescelest, and with my icy blue eyes flecked with silver, I glanced at each of them, and said, "You don't have to worry about me lying, when it comes to those two."

"You understand with your path, we still are wary." The Rose had pulled out a pen and book.

Of course, my path. Mine was illusion, death by seeing things others don't, because they didn't exist. They were hallucinations. Death by lies. Another way to put it. Ever heard of being moonstruck? And I don't mean being in love.

"Alright. For once, I will agree with the Assassin. We should've killed that man immediately. Because of him, those two escaped. He told them about the Overworld. I overheard them. So I went in, and asked them what they were doing. They said they were interrogating the prisoner. Then the two left. The prisoner was somewhat hopeful. I knew that it was too late, but I used my path to kill him."

"So, it wasn't a suicide?" Princess of Sleep asked, surprised. I was almost never even bothered to use my path.

"No."

"Have you found them?" Rose asked.

"No. I can only speedily search where the moonlight goes. If the moonlight does not penetrate an area, I have to search it normally. You know full well about that. They probably headed toward civilization first, meaning that it'll be hard to find them."

"I can help find the two. Number 6 and 9 (this is a coincidence, people) shouldn't be too hard to find, considering they don't know how to mask their power," The Magician said.

"On the contrary," I replied. "They both have special items. The Dead and The Warrior both have those headphones that mask their powers."

"Who gave them the ****inf headphones?" Assassin demanded.

"I did. They asked me for something from the Overworld a few years back, and that is what I got them," Ocean replied. "Smart of them to use those."

"You let them get away! You are why we can't find them!" Assasin yelled. He was getting angrier, which normally meant we would have to restrain him again. His eyes were starting to glow a demonic red.

"Calm down," Rose said. "If the time comes, we will all search, but now is not the time. The gods are attempting to find The Dead. They don't know that The Warrior also escaped with him, which is good. Eclipse, Ocean, and I will search. The rest of you have to hold off the agents of the gods. The mobs will not help as much as before, but should help some."

"CALM DOWN?" Assassin hissed. "I say we completely destroy one of the major cities and leave a message for the two traitors that if they don't come back, we'll slowly abolish the things they came for."

"I say we put them to sleep first, if we destroy a city. They'll die in peace, at least," Princess of Sleep agreed.

"At least spare me some test subjects," The Magician said, exasperated. "I could use some more."

"What do you think?" Like always, the vote fell upon the other members, meaning Numbers 2, 8, and me, at least for this meeting. Normally, 6 and 9 would be included, but they, as we well knew, were gone.

"I think we should go with The Rose's plan," The Ocean replied.

The Sniper nodded in the Rose's direction.

"If we don't find them in 2 weeks, we all go and search." The words left my mouth before I realized I said them.

"And why should we search if you are too incompetent to find them?" The Magician asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Out of all of us, I've searched the hardest, and the longest. Don't you tell me about not being able do things! All you do is sit in your little cozy prison hole andd torture your 'subjects' through 'experiments'. I don't see you accomplish very much despite all that power you supposedly have. Or is that an illusion as well?"

"I-"

I stood up and glared. "No, no! You don't get to say anything! You, and the other two, are too ambitious to see. You're blinded by illusions and your beliefs to see that MAYBE, if you work TOGETHER, SOMETHING could be accomplished."

"Ambitious! There is no ambition in happiness!" The Princess of Sleep insisted. She didn't like this, I could tell. She really believed in the fact that there was happiness in sleep.

"Your 'sleep' spells and potions could be more effective if the Magician used her research to help you. But no, your plans are too different, too important, to even consider merging together for a second. I won't offer anymore ideas, because surely you are smart enough to figure something out. I'm going to search some more."

Turning in my heels, I stormed toward the Nether portal and came back to the Overworld. In hindsight, getting angry was a bad idea, but most of them wouldn't understand.

Number 6 was named Noah, or NoahCraftFTW. As Herobrine's son, he wasn't allowed to leave the Nether. The humans would probably attack him on sight because of the glowing white eyes he inherited from his father. He had brown hair that spiked up at the front, a blue jacket with red sleeve ends, a black shirt, black gloves and jeans. All fireproofed, because of the Nether. His headphones where white, green, and red. Despite being Herobrine's son, he didn't want to destroy all of humanity, like his father. He was more peaceful, more friendly. I felt bad for him, doomed to be an instrument of destruction. Eventually, I started seeing him as my other little brother.

Number 9 was The Dead. The Ocean started calling him Deadlox on day, so it stuck. Now half of the members call him Deadlox, the others to with The Dead. His real name was Ty Soleath, and he was the son of Solarius. He was a brunette, with one eye covered by his hair. Ty wore a white shirt and black pants, along with black and green headphones.

I wasn't worried about them not being able to take care of themselves. I was worried about when they interacted with the humans.

Me worrying about Noah was obvious. If anyone saw him without his headphones...

Ty's was less obvious, but more worrying. He had what they called "multiple personality disorder". Ty, as far as I knew, had 4 of them. They weren't different personalities, but more like different versions of him.

The first was when his headphones (the core part that covered his ears) and eyes were green, meaning he was himself. In full control of his body, could use whatever powers he knows about. If he was in his normal form, he would be fine.

The second was when his headphones and eyes turned purple. When this happened, he would become timid, scared, and was urged by someone or something to run and return 'home'. I've never known where this 'home' was.

The third was when they turned red. He was pretty much a demon, another version of The Assassin. What filled his thoughts in this 'personality' was to kill, hurt, and destroy the people around him. Seeing his abilities, this was a serious problem.

Lastly, the color would be gold. I haven't seen his eyes turn this color after we were taken. It seems it would only be gold when in the Aether. This wasn't such a bad thing. Ty would be himself. I don't know what the difference was between his gold eyed personality and his green one.

I settled into my little room hidden at the top of this 'Team Crafted' building. I told them I would search more, but it would be fruitless now. When they needed it, Noah and Ty would call. And when they do, I will answer.

The Magician said "he" was inside this building, but I had a feeling she was referring to someone besides Ty and Noah, especially after this meeting. She sought something more. Something they possessed.

So... Which one of them was she searching for?

The one blessed with Notch's amulet, and is unknowingly the host of 'Willpower'?

The one infected with the results of a thousands of year old experiment?

The one with the tremendous power of the ocean at his command?

Could it be the possessor of the deep power of the forest?

The one who's ancestry includes of the god of Archery, along with holding that god's golden tag?

The one who's origins is from the Stars?

Or was it the one who inadvertently chose the path of Wisdom, and thus, hosts 'Wisdom'?

No... They were not the only ones.

'Emotion' and its host was also within the walls. Nature's chosen protector was there as well.

They were all drawn together, and in doing so, began turning the old gears.

Time has now awakened, ready to write each decision into the Books of Life.

Whatever happened from now would affect Fate.

The tight threads Fate has woven is now unraveling, the future unclear.

* * *

**_YOUR MIND HAS BEEN BLOWN! I hope. Probably not, but now you know what the OCs are for. And why pairings can't happen. _**

**_Don't kill me D:_**

**_And I believe this is my longest chapter yet. So much explained, but, hopefully, there's now more questions out there._**

**_So, like, if you have any questions, ask me in the reviews. And I will answer it, as long as the answer won't spoil the story._**

**_Until next time, my friends :3_**


	8. Enter, The Subleaders!

**_I'm not dead yet... For now o.O_**

**_So I guess you're okay with them being bad guys? _**

**_Anyway, DJMidge, who I give a shoutout for faithfully reviewing every single time I release a chapter :D I always know I'll get one review if she's around. She asked about her OC's, or Max Carson's, path. The answer is that his path is speed, or a secluded, hidden one. Or a quick, painless death that could take some time for people to discover._**

**_Another shoutout to httpkirby, who I can always have a conversation with :3 He also writes an absolutely amazing story I absolutely adore *w*_**

**_Last shoutout, SkybornWriterGal. She has an amazing total of three OCs in this story, and that's because she's so descriptive. She submits an OC, bam! It's in. She and her OCs are that awesome!_**

**_Anyway, TO THE STORY!_**

* * *

**POV: ?**

"Prepare the troops! We must capture another Key! They are vital to our victory!"

"My liege, it seems all of the Keys are in the Overworld. Five are continuously moving, but the other four seem stationary."

"Excellent. The stationary ones, where are they?"

"Two seem to be in that cursed place of filled with _gold_, two are within that jail, the last inside a huge tree."

"The ones that keep moving?"

"Uh... One is in the ocean, or at least staying close to the ocean, another within the depths of forest. Two are wandering the streets of two different cities. The last... Wait, there isn't a tenth!"

"Yes there is. The Master of all the Keys is the tenth one, but to capture him we need all of them. Once we have their power, all of humanity will bow to us! My faithful army, our day will soon come!"

"Which do we capture first?"

"The one who dares intrude upon our domain. Remember, use those to capture them. Anything else, they can escape."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

**POV: Seto**

I felt really bad. All of my closest friends were risking their lives to defend the butter storage rooms, and because I was too tired, I couldn't help them. The enchanted gold apple helped, but what would really help is sleep.

But, of course, sleep didn't come. I ended up glancing around the room with my head still on my arms. It was then someone caught my eye.

"Seto?" Vee looked at me with her innocent violet eyes.

"..."

A small piece of paper, covered in plastic, was poking out of the boy's pocket. Maybe that could tell us more about this guy and we wouldn't have to call him "boy" too much.

I slid the paper out of his pocket. It had been very carefully folded into some shape and seemed to be a few years old.

I unfolded it, and spread the now much larger sheet on the table.

"What does it say?" The four subleaders gathered around me, curious about my findings.

_To: The Ninth Dead_

_If you are reading this letter, then you are probably in the Overworld. This paper will only reveal itself in the Overworld. Special magic. Pretty cool huh? _

_Anway, when you get back, Zero is going to be pretty angry. If you choose to come back. The Nether isn't really fun, come to think of it. Always feels like I'm going to burn myself off the air, but it could just be me, relaxing in cool weather and all. Makes me feel bad for you. How'd you not die of thirst in there?_

_Anyway, you and The Sixth Warrior asked me about getting you both something from the Overworld, so I got you guys these headphones. Hope you like em, I picked them out. They should help you hide from enemies. Plus some other stuff, ah. You'll figure it out. Despite those three's smarts, there's only so much they see._

_However, there's a reason the two of you are cooped up in the Nether. I mentioned enemies earlier, but I can't tell you about them in a letter. They are very easily found and intercepted. Heh, I've already given away a lot in this letter. _

_However, just ask your cousin. She'll tell you. Probably._

_I assume there's a way for you to contact her, right? Knowing her, she'll destroy an entire city if you want her to. Sheesh... This gets pretty complicated. Hope you find a nice place to hang out in._

_Oh, and last of all, watch out for The TPS, The FD, and The SW. They'll probably want your abilities for their own purposes, and they'll probably use "treachery", "disloyalty", and whatever floats their troublesome boat._

_~The Second Ocean_

"Ninth Dead? TPS? FD? SW? The Second Ocean?" Emer questioned. "What would the capitalized words mean? Ninth Dead makes it sound like there were casualties... Lastly, there's a lot of oceans out there. There's no real way to tell which one came second. Maybe the numbers refer to a code."

"Numbers... Code..." I pondered (about) the idea. It wasn't too long ago when I heard something along this line.

Then it hit me.

"The second member of the KeyRing has the code name The Ocean. This guy is a member of the KeyRing. All the people mentioned must be in the KeyRing." It took a moment to sink in, for me at least. This was incredible information. Very, very important information. It would help us fight the plan the squids have.

"KeyRing?" The subleaders glanced at each other, confused. Of course, they didn't know, they weren't at the meeting. But I suppose we'll have to tell them eventually. Why not now?

"When Sky, Jason, and Husky had their 'little adventure', they discovered bits about how the squids plan to defeat us. To sum it up, they think gathering these 'keys' will summon someone with practically unstoppable power. Supposedly, this guy, "The Dead", is one of the Keys. When we left to go to MC, it wasn't to ask about whether there were any villages in crisis, it was to see if we could gather anymore information about this organization. The police commissioner told us that they are called the KeyRing, and it consists of unnaturally powerful people. The Keys are assigned a code name and number, and they all tend to work apart. There's more info, but it would be better if all of the sub-leaders heard this."

"..."

"So, basically, it's us VS the squids VS supposedly super-powered people?"

"Yes."

"Awesome!" Tyler high-fived Vee.

*insert 2 facepalms and a facedesk here*

* * *

**POV: ?**

"So, you called us?"

"The squids are attempting to gather the devils. We also, for a short moment, felt Solarius's son's energy before it disappeared. We need some agents to investigate and return the boy back into Solarius's domain. You and some of the others are well acquainted and situated within the Overworld, plus you also have considerable influence there. Who else could do the job?"

"... Fine. I'll alert the others. But you know as well as I do that if we are discovered, the humans will probably overreact. Whether it is negatively or positively, we will never know."

"I bid you good luck."

"As an Overworld Angel, it is hard to tell whether luck is needed or not."

"Indeed. Do your best."

* * *

**POV: ?**

**I feel...**

**I sense...**

**They're there... The gods have no rightful claim to either of the two, nor does the devil ring and the silly humans.**

**And there is the other one. He too, was given the "gift".**

**It may be just a drop, but that is enough to call mine...**

**You three are made of my blood, and belong to me...**

**Return home, my children.**

* * *

**POV: The Dead**

_Three Days Later..._

_About 2:00 PM..._

Where am I?

Why hasn't Noah woken me up yet?

Why is it so bright?

Why does it feel a bit chilly?

I shivered as I pulled the blankets closer to me. They felt nice actually... Soft...

The bed was pretty comfy too...

Wait...

WHAT?

I booted upright, then winced as the blood rushed to my head.

"Hey, he's awake!"

That come from a brunette boy, with black glasses.

"Finally! It's been almost a week since we've found him!"

This time, a girl, about the same age of the boy from before. Brown hair, big bow tied around her waist.

"I'm going to get Dawn." A blonde with a messenger bag left the room, leaving behind the Red Bow girl, Black Glasses boy, and a boy with dark green hair and an archery bow.

The green haired one approached the bed and sat down in a chair next to it.

"I'm Apotis, BajanCanadian's subleader. Welcome to the Team Crafted Base," He said, with a... A smile, right? It looked like one.

"Hey, hey!" The black glasses boy practically leaped over in his eagerness. "I'm Tyler, Sky's little brother and subleader." He puffed his chest proudly, before being smacked in the stomach playfully by the red bow girl.

"And I'm Vee! Seto's little sister and subleader! And who're you, mysterious headphone wearing brunette person who is hunted by the squids?" She questioned.

"I'm-"

Don't say Deadlox, don't say Soleath.

Something warned me.

"Ty."

It was my name. Just not the whole name.

"So, how's it feel sleeping for 6 days?" Tyler asked, curious.

"Um..."

BLAM! The door slammed open, and a girl with blue and pink hair came in followed by the messenger bag boy, a guy with an amulet, and another guy with a purple hoodie.

"So, he's awake?" The people who entered the room just stared, minus the purple hoodie guy. He was just standing kind of awkwardly off to the side while Vee babbled off a million words per second. I assume the purple hood guy is Seto.

"Are you hungry? You haven't eaten in a week, you must be starving. Excuse the subleaders, they don't always act insensitive. Any headaches? Stomachaches? Anything feeling out of place at all?" The pink and blue haired girl pulled out a plate which had... Something on it.

"I am Dawn, the leader of the Healing Unit," She explained. "That guy right there is Sky, the leader of the Sky Army-" gesture at the amulet guy, "and that is Seto, the leader of the Mages." Then she gestured at the purple hoodie guy. "Any questions?"

"Is... Is this food?" I glanced nervously at the plate. All I've ever really eaten was mushroom stew. And way back, I just barely remember eating some sweet, and golden.

"You've NEVER had steak or porkchops before?" Sky looked stunned. Actually, everyone looked stunned, but he was the one who spoke first.

"Try it! Try it! Eat it! Eat it!" Tyler and Vee chanted, smiles widening in amusement.

I slowly nibbled the edge of the darker, brown one. I think this was what the that adventurer talked about. This one was steak. The lighter tan one was porkchops.

Flavors exploded in my mouth, new and vibrant, and my stomach growled in response. I was starved, but I ate it slowly, savoring the new flavors. I slowly went through the three pieces of steak and three porckchops before I demolished 2 apples, two cooked chickens, a cookie, and four bread.

"Wow..." Sometime when I was eating, a man with a checkered hoodie came in. "I'm impressed. Not that many people can eat so much and so fast." He then grinned. "I'm BajanCanadian, and if Apotis hasn't already said anything, I lead the archery unit and he's my subleader."

"Ah... Right. I'm Ty."

"Okay, he should be able to walk around. Vee, Tyler, Apotis, I want you to show him around. Emer, I need you to take a look at some people who are experiencing weird side effects from the potion. I need to look at a few people who were hit dead on by a creeper." Dawn exited the room, followed by Emer.

"First we should introduce everyone else, so he knows who to go to for help," Seto said.

"Right!" Sky clutched his amulet and cleared his throat.

"Plug in your ears," Apotis whispered.

"Wh-"

**"ATTENTION! ALL SUBLEADERS AND LEADERS, NOT COUNTING DAWN AND EMER, REPORT TO THE TEMPORARY REPORT AND MEETING ROOM! AND I MEAN IMMEDIATELY!"**

By the time he finished his announcement, I was sure I was deaf, but a quick splash proved me wrong as Seto tossed a splash potion at me.

"Stops the after effects," He explained. "They aren't very pleasant."

Within ten minutes, all the people I remember seeing before my panic attack and a few more were all gathered within my room.

"Okay! As the Sky Army leader, I'll go first. Even though I've already told him my name. I am Sky, the Sky Army leader, 23 years old **_(don't know if it's his real age, but for the sake of the story, that's his age)_** , and these two-" he shoved styled and girl I didn't recognize in front of him. "Are my subleaders. Tyler, and Fia."

"I'm Tyler, like I said way earlier. I'm 14 _(same deal as earlier, and for all the non-OCs/YouTubers included) _and like baguettes," Tyler said.

"Hiya! I'm Fia, short for Fiara! I'm twenty, almost twenty one, and I love anything chocolate, warm, and with marshmallows!" Fia was a woman who has long, slightly wavy, crimson hair with a golden brilliant gold streak, along with a golden sheen. Fia also has sky blue eyes with a thin ring of gold around her pupils. She must be half cat or something, because she has cat ears and a tail with golden fur. She wears a denim jacket over a sky blue tee with blocky gold letters that say, "SKY ARMY RECRUIT", with a short denim skirt that has a ruffled hem, and sky blue tennis shoes with gold shoelaces. And on top of that, she has a sky blue cape with a gold pickaxe design. A lot of blue and gold.

"Uh... Hi."

"Us next!" Vee shoved herself and Seto forward. "You know that he's Seto and I'm Vee, but we're brother and sister, we lead the Mages, and as the army name suggests, we're study and learn about magic, potions, sorcery, and everything along the enchanting line! And Seto is able to read the enchanting language like its regular Craftian!"

"It's not that hard..." Seto muttered.

"Too modest Seto!" The bacca stepped forward, but not before giving the golden dog tag man a slight playful shove, which resulted in a shove back.

"Anyway, I'm Jerome, an honorable man of the bac! And The Pope of Power Moves!" The bacca announced proudly. "Janis is my subleader!" Jerome attempted to thump Janis on the back, but she swiftly dodged it.

"Don't do that, it hurts like crap!" Janis said. Janis was a blonde haired girl with a few thin streaks of brown, and stormy gray eyes. Whenever she smiled, I could glimpse bacca fangs, leading me to assume she was a hybrid. She wore a sort of battle armor and regular clothes mix, with an orange shirt, and jeans that went down halfway to her thighs. Over those clothes, she wore a silver belt, which had a diamond edged gold and iron mini axe, and a thin, flexible iron jacket.

"I'm Janis, 17 years old. I'm a half bacca, half human, although it's hard to tell unless you see my fangs," she said, proving my hunch correct. "I'm Jerome's adopted sister."

The man with the dog tag stepped up. "I'm BajanCanadian, or Mitch! Most call me Bajan, but whatever. I'm the leader of the archery unit, and Apotis is my subleader! Best archer, besides me!"

"Erm, yeah, sure," Apotis stuttered nervously.

"I'm SSundee, or Ian, leader of the building unit. Or the jack-of-all-trades unit, pretty much," the other guy in sunglasses said. "And this is my subleader, Eli."

Eli nodded in my direction, choosing to stay silent. He had scruffy brown hair with fair skin, golden brown eyes, and a goatee. Eli wears a brown leather jacket over a peach colored shirt, maroon jeans with numerous pockets, and black hiking boots.

Then, the blue spacesuit walked up. "I'm Jason, leader of the Stars, and this is my subleader, Celeste."

"Hello." Celeste had brown hair that went to her waist, silver specked light blue eyes, and fair skin. She wore a silver creeper sweatshirt, dark blue jeans, and black combat boots.

Lastly, the blue Pokemon introduced himself. "I'm HuskyMudkipz, Husky for short, and I don't have a subleader, because I lead the hunting units. They all have a selected pack leader."

"So, that's Team Crafted, except for Dawn and Emer. Dawn is the healing unit's leader, with Emer as her subleader. Any help, ask us," Sky concluded. Then, he left, followed by the other leaders.

"So..."

Celeste had spoken up.

"What's your story? It's not often, in fact, almost never, that the leaders are interested in a person?"

"Oooh! He's that guy Sky and Husky and Jason rescued. You see-"

Vee launched into an animated explanation of how the three rescued me, but she was holding something back...

Something...

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. It was probably nothing, and I felt somewhat guilty, knowing Noah was out there, alone, but there was nothing I could do. That could explain some of my paranoia.

When Vee finished explaining, the subleaders nodded.

"Anyway, I'm going to show him around!" Vee cheered.

"Me too!" Tyler exclaimed.

"And I'm going to watch and make sure you two don't get into trouble." Eli narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the youngest subleaders, who stared back innocently.

This is what families do, right?

Watch out for each other?

Did they always do something somewhat playfully?

This felt new. And I wanted to know more, but staying in this bed wouldn't help. I climbed out.

"L-lets go," I stuttered.

* * *

**POV: Number 6, The Warrior**

This was amazing.

The Overworld was amazing.

The Dead and I had taken a stack of emerald blocks and Diamond blocks each from the treasure room, because the adventurer had said that they were very highly valued in the Overworld.

I had received a lot of money for 5 blocks of each gem, and now was wandering within this huge city.

The blocks weren't new, but the way they were arranged was practical and very beautiful, compared to the scattered, unorganized mess of the Nether.

Food was amazing. Flavors burst in my mouth with every bite, from sweet to salty to tangy to meaty deliciousness...

Overworlders were very lucky.

I should find the Dead soon...

But I have no leads, or any idea about where he could be. I just hoped he was okay.

My father, while I don't like his way of things, told me that the angels wished to destroy us. With good reason, I guess, but I don't think No. 9 knows this information.

Plus, he's not just part god...

When Father had brought 4 and 9, I could tell that they weren't 100% god.

They were hybrids. Like me. I don't know how, but they were. And I could tell, because I had some of that same blood.

Ender children...

No. 7 once murdered hundreds of thousands of people, kids, mothers, fathers, any human she found, in the attempt to create an Ender child.

Ender children can be of any species, but they have to contain the blood of an Enderdragon. This makes us powerful, more so than normal. Depending on what your "normal" is.

We influence things, and can change stuff drastically, good or bad.

This makes us a primary target for angels, who fight for stability...

* * *

**_DUN DUN DUUUUN!_**

**_I know, "THEY'RE SO OP!" They won't always be, I already have weaknesses and shtuff thought out._**

**_AND DUN DUN DUUN! More things getting involved within the problem. Fate must hate everyone's guts, the threads are unraveling so fast._**

**_And more good news! I have drawn Number 1 and 2! The line art for Number 1 will be posted on my DeviantArt account. teamcraftillious(no links :/)as long as the website doesn't crash again o.e It won't be there immediately, unless it's a day or so after I post this. I'll also put the link on my profile if possible. And in regards to the Deviantart name, its about a story idea I have, but I'm working out the kinks. And by kinks, I mean huge plot holes and storyline twisting._**

**_For Number 2, I still have to digitalize the line art, and it's tough on an IPod :P_**

**_Anyway, I hope you like the chapter!_**

**_Celetea OUT!_**


	9. Snapped

**_Okay, I have Number 1, 2, 3, and 4 drawn. I might redo 1 and 2, cuz after I drew them, I picked up some better drawing tips. And yes, all the girls are flat chested. I can't draw that without the girl looking really weird._**

**_I'll also blockitize them, but after I've drawn em all. Sheesh, I've got so much to draw :P The rest of the KeyRing, then the blockitized them, and after that, all of the KeyRing together. And I have to keep updating xD You all keep me busy, that's for sure :3_**

**_Also, in this chapter, it gets a bit dark o.O I didn't mean for it to. But it turned out that way.  
_**

* * *

**POV: Ty**

"Well, your room is one of the empty rooms near the medical ward which is near the bottom floor, so we'll start with outside!" Vee exclaimed, grabbing one of my arms and dragging me to a purple colored tile under a sign. I had just enough time to read the words, "Ground Floor" before the scenery changed to a different room.

"Wha?" I glanced around, stepping off the purple tile. I turned around, and the sign the purple tile now said, "Medical Ward".

That was when Vee, followed by Tyler and Eli, materialized out of nowhere. That was when I realized the tiles teleported people, but something bothered me.

"How do those tiles work?" I asked.

"Oh, Seto and I worked on those. We had to infuse Ender Pearls and redefine into an obsidian, then with a complicated spell, Seto linked to blocks to teleport whoever stands/touches it to the other block and vice versa," Vee answered somewhat proudly.

"Oh..." Something stirred within me, an angry feeling? It was angry that these people had killed Endermen for their pearls and demanded retribution.

_Kill them, torture them, gouge their eyes out in retribution!_

Another voice answered, agreeing. Except this one was just sadistic, suggesting more gruesome things.

"Ty? OVERWORLD TO TY!" Tyler shouted waving his hand in from of my face. It took a moment for my mind to register the action.

"Huh?"

"You blanked out on us! Come on, it'll be dark soon! You got to see outside first!" Vee said.

"R-right!"

After following a smooth stone path, we came to an area filled with people.

"This is the training area! Targets for archery is over on the left side, close range combat is to the right, and that center field is The Arena, which has training with partners, friendly battles, tournaments, and challenges," Tyler explained.

"There's a challenge going on," Eli pointed out.

"Lets go see!" Tyler said, excited.

We pushed our way to the front and watched as a two people swiftly and cockily defeated their challengers.

"And the winner is Lana and Hongo!" Someone shouted, probably the referee.

The ones who lost limped off in defeat, while the victors showed off smug grins. Lana must be the girl with hair in several shades of blue with green eyes and blue clothes that hugged her body. That left Hongo as the boy, hair a deep red that turned a light orange at the ends, yellow eyes, and red clothes.

"Who wants to challenge us, The Lango Duo?" Lana called out, smirking. She then glanced over in our direction and narrowed her eyes at Tyler and Vee, before glancing over at me.

"Hey cutie! What are you hanging around wimps for?" She shouted, pointing at me. "Especially since they won't last long as subleaders! A cutie like you ought to hanging around stronger, better people. Like us!"

Tyler narrowed his eyes angrily. I could see his hands clutching the sword he had tightly.

Vee also glared at Lana, who simply shrugged it off. "Aw, is your little girlfriend defending you? Isn't that sweet?" She teased. "Come on cutie. Come join us, the elitists! We'll give you more than those two ever will!"

I stared straight at her. Observing, calculating.

* * *

_"When detecting lies, false confidence, take note of everything. Is their stature natural? Does anything tremble, even slightly? Are they sweating? Not quite looking at your eyes?"_

_"This isn't fair, you always know when people lie! It's part of your power!"_

_"But it's not yours. It'll be useful useful someday. Just keep practicing. I know it's tough, being the youngest out of us 9. But you've got to keep trying. The day will come when it is to your advantage, when you can use all these skills to help."_

_"Alright..."_

* * *

"I'll handle this," I said softly. Those lessons she gave me told me everything I needed to know. Lana was slightly off. Tyler's and Vee's presence unnerved her. She didn't have that same confidence as she did after her earlier victory.

I have Hongo a once over. He was used to an easy life. An easy life of victory, luxury, and comfort.

I could handle them both easily.

I stepped onto the platform, to the shock of everyone.

"Oh? Are we a trio now?" Lana held her hand out, that confident grin back on her face, Hongo smirking at the crowd.

I did not shake it. "You asked for a challenger? I accept."

The smirk was wiped off their faces for short moment, before they both glowered at me.

"I see how it is." Hongo's voice. "Stay with the losers, then. It is your loss."

"That's right cutie. Prepare to be sent to the medical ward."

The crowd was watching, anticipating. I saw bets exchanging hands, heard whispers, felt eyes on me.

"But you don't have a weapon!" Tyler shouted. Lana fought with long knives, a bit like Number 5. Hongo used a bow and arrow, like Number 8. Neither of my opponents would compare to those two's skills.

"I'll be fine."

"Cocky, are we? That's fine. Much easier to win," Hongo laughed.

Was I nervous?

Yes. Not about the fight, but about whether I'll reveal too much. Using my powers might be too much for the them to handle.

"Fight!" The referee snapped me out of my thought process, and out of instinct, I bowed, low.

* * *

_"In a respectful fight, you take a bow."_

_"Wouldn't that give you a disadvantage?"_

_"It could, but my powers have me do that. It's just how my path works. Like how Lunara's lets her detect lies. Mine requires some part of the fight to be if it's just a tiny, tiny gesture, it counts."_

_"Oh..."_

_"Plus, we can beat anyone, even if we do take that bow. The opponents'll never beat us."_

* * *

I could feel waves of disbelief.

Was he insane?

Did he have a death wish?

Did he want to lose right away?

I tuned the crowds out and focused. I could feel Lana and Hongo rushing up to me, moving in to take me out quickly.

I glanced at the ground behind them, my endpoint. I could feel the power flow into my legs, in one swift move, kicked their weapons out their hands and landed at the point I had pictured earlier.

"Did no one tell you that in a respectful fight, you bow to your opponent?"

Lana growled, lashing out with her hand, which I caught, then twisted, causing her to yelp.

"You!" Her eyes widened. "Y-your eyes!"

I twisted her arm a bit more, then bent it around her back, causing her to scream. With her free hand, she punched me in the stomach, but I still held on, twisting it further in pain, and earning a screech.

"Let Lana go!" Hongo swung a fist at me, and I was forced to let Lana go to dodge. However, he unleashed a huge onslaught of punches and kicks, and almost kicked my legs out from underneath me. The floor flaked a bit, the force of the punches cracking the stone. Luckily, Lana, was cradling her arm, unable to attack.

If I didn't do anything, powers or no powers, his punches could easily pulverize me.

After a few brief moments of more dodging, I jabbed Hongo on certain spots on his arms and legs, causing him to crash into the floor, paralyzed. At least, his arms and legs were paralyzed.

* * *

_"See this chart?"_

_"It's a human body."_

_"Right. Hit certain points, with just enough force, not too much or too little, and you can paralyze their entire body. The research I've done proved this. While it won't work on us, and probably not the angels, if you ever come across some humans, this helps. Especially since I always need new test subjects. This other chart will tell you how to undo the effects."_

_"..."_

_"Study up. I'll teach you magic next lesson."_

* * *

Something didn't feel right.

His punches cracked stone?

I glanced down. The top layer of the stone was simply rock dust which blew away with the wind.

Superhuman strength?

Suddenly, I was tackled from behind.

"You're in league with _her_, and her little _Klüb IcE_, AREN'T YOU?" Lana hissed. "Don't lie, I recognize that technique. She always used that to stop anyone from escaping, to stop anyone from moving."

My heart raced. She had the advantage. I was pinned to the floor, face down, she was pinning me down with her weight, and was free to attack.

_FREEDOM! RUN! DANGER! FLIGHT! LEAVE! _

_ATTACK HER! NO MERCY! DEATH! FIGHT! GORE! _

"AARGH!" This splitting headache...

"What the?" Lana, and the entire crowd, was confused. No damage had been dealt, why did I scream? They didn't know...

I focused on an area about ten feet away from either of my opponents, and concentrated on being there. I wasn't being pinned by this girl, instead, I was on that spot.

* * *

_"Ahahahaha, looks like I'm teaching you today huh?"_

_"..."_

_"Ok, so Zero wants me to teach you teleportation. It's pretty easy. Or for me. I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. You just have to **think**, have to **believe**, you have to **know** that you are in that area, not where you are now. It's better if you can see that location. Of course, you have to have enough power, but it's no prob for us, huh?"_

_"I-I see. But you don't look like a teleporter."_

_"Ahaha, being lax and not very worked up kind of makes me teleport a lot whenever I want to go somewhere. But, for the most part, I stay near the ocean, after all, it's where I'm the most comfortable. So, how about you try and teleport a few feet?"_

* * *

And I was free. Breathing hard, tired, but free.

Everyone stared at me. Their eyes bored into my head. For just a moment, I thought everyone was Zero, eyes glowing white with hate, anger, disappointment, sadism.

What's going on?

"You work for her! I'll kill you!" Lana charged at me, eyes full of murder, both knives in hand. However, right next to her, I see No. 5 goading her on.

And there's No. 7 too. Laughing.

Am I seeing things?

_SHE'S COMING FOR YOU! RUN! ESCAPE! COME TO WHERE YOU ARE SAFE! WHERE YOU BELONG!_

_ATTACK BACK! SHOW HER WHO'S SUPERIOR! SHOW THEM ALL WHO IS THE TRUE FIGHTER!_

Just for a moment, I give in to the voices. I'm so tired...

And that's when I suddenly shoot out sharp obsidian fragments, and Lana freezes in her tracks. The crowd watches as the fragments slice her clothes, but doesn't cut anything else.

Hongo has recovered from his paralysis, and now they both were closing in for the kill. They have the same eyes as the Assassin, whenever he was assigned a mission to kill someone.

They wanted it to be painful.

They wanted for me to feel the torture they did at the hands of the Witch.

The same eyes all the other kids had whenever they picked on me back at the Aether.

The same ones as the gods did, looking at me with disapproval.

I snapped.

The two voices within my head blended into one, and guided my body. I pulled an obsidian _**(I know they don't exist in Mincraft, but why not?)**_ sword out of nowhere, and deflect Lana's knives. I backflip to avoid an arrow and slice it in half. Less arrows for the enemy.

The battle simply becomes commands to my body.

Jab, dash left, jump, slice the arrow, dodge, slash, duck, block...

* * *

**POV: Noah**

Oh no...

What happened to Ty?

His energy is spiking up. Not enough to be noticed by the KeyRing and the angels, but enough for Lunara and I to feel.

I closed my eyes and intensely, intensely, willed myself to be where Ty was.

* * *

**POV: Seto**

"HE'S GONE CRAZY!"

All of us leaders looked up, shocked.

"This guy, with headphones, and like, brown hair, has gone crazy! He accepted a challenge, from Lana and Hongo, and then they start shouting about some club, and then he freaking teleports, and summons an obsidian sword, and they're freaking fighting to the death! No ones interfering cuz we'll be brutally murdered and-"

By that time he was talking to thin air. The leaders had left.

And we were running as fast as we could, meaning we got there in less than a minute. And the place was packed with people. It would seem every person within the base was watching this showdown.

"CLEAR A PATH!" Jerome roared. Sky needed his amulet to be loud, and there was no time to gather energy for it.

The crowd, startled, quickly moved out the way, and we ran to the the arena just in time to see Ty, headphones glowing both purple and red at the exact same time, pin both his opponents to the ground with the sword he held, raise his sword up, and stab downwards.

We watched in horror as it approached their heads, then abruptly froze right before it could behead them

Ty leapt backwards, 10 feet, and turned his eyes on us. The eye we could see, like his headphones, was a visible mix of purple and red. But that wasn't what made us back up a step.

His eyes showed no recognition, almost as if he was a wild animal. Icy cold, evaluating how to take us out, almost no emotion. We were his enemy.

Jerome gritted his teeth, and stepped forward, causing Ty to snap his attention toward him, and he raised his sword. However he seemed hesitant to swing. That changed once Jerome was within 5 feet of him. Ty snarled and swung, causing Jerome to dive backwards and away as a slice of black energy emerged from the sword and continued forward into space.

That was when someone shoved me and Sky aside and ran in front of Jerome.

"TY!"

* * *

**POV: Noah**

I was almost too late. Almost too late.

Almost.

Ty was in that state again, where his "evil" side merged with his more "instinctive" side, and they turned Ty into a monster. A murderer. A wild animal.

"TY!"

I shoved myself in front of the bacca who wore a suit. Weird, but his life would've ended if I didn't.

Ty stared at me, those ice cold eyes slowly gaining recognition.

"No... Ah."

His eyes, lost, confused, bewildered. His voice, broken, soft, sad. Lonely.

"Ty, listen. Listen to my voice." I stepped forward, and he skittered backwards, the monster within telling him to strike, I could tell, but Ty, the real one, held himself back.

I turned around for a second, knowing he wouldn't attack, not just yet at least. "Who did this to Ty?" I demanded angrily.

"..."

"Those two did..." Someone in the crowd pointed to the other two people, the only other people on the actual raised stage.

A boy and a girl, a few years older than us, I guess. They were in shock, but recovered at the person's voice.

"He works for that witch! The one who experiments on people!" The girl snarled.

"IF HE DID, HE WOULDN'T BE HERE! FROM WHAT YOUVE SEEN, WHY WOULD SHE LET HIM GO? THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUSH HIM TOO FAR, TOO HARD. HE SNAPS. HE BECOMES A MONSTER. ALL BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM WHEN HE WAS LITTLE!" I yelled, angry. I knew I should calm down, that if I got too angry, my eyes would turn white, and the two of us would become outlaws in a land of freedom and supposed happiness.

The girl fell silent, thankfully, and I closed my eyes, calming myself. Anger in my eyes would only provoke Ty more. I slowly turned to face him, eyes softening.

"Ty..."

"..."

"Drop the sword."

"Drop... The sword?"

Ty stared back, confused. His hands, and the sword, trembled as he clutched it tighter.

"Listen Ty. Drop. The. Sword."

He blinked. Once. Twice. Three times...

And he dropped it, the sword vanishing as it left his hands. His eyes widened, turning back to green, and Ty collapsed on the spot.

Then, I'm running to him, and managed to catch him before his face slammed into the unforgiving earth. His chest is heaving, forehead is burning hot, his whole body trembling.

This isn't good. I won't be able to help him. I, by myself, could only do so much."

"Lu li la~ Lu li la~ Lu li la la la~" I sing. Loudly. Everyone stares at me like I'm crazy, but I ignore them.

Come on, I need your help, and now!

* * *

**POV: Lunara**

I heard it.

Noah called for me. And he's only a single jump away.

I leapt off the top of the Team Crafted building, and as I plummet toward the ground, I hear people scream, and see people point. Just before I slam into the ground, the silvery wings attached to the bottom on my pants flutter outwards, then expand and slow my fall. I land on the ground, left foot first, then the right.

"Noah!" I spin around, and immediately spot the problem. Ty.

"What happened?" I rush toward the two, and am there in a moment thanks to burst of speed from the ankle wings.

"_That_ happened," Noah growled, glaring over at two people, about my age I'd guess.

"Nothing badly damaged?"

"Judging from the way they, they're fine."

"You're lucky." I glare at the two, who flinch at my cold stare. "The fact no one was injured is a miracle."

"He twisted my arm!" The girl shouts.

"Is it broken? No. It's still operational, none of the muscles were pulled too far, the bones are fine, it just might be sore. Plus, he probably did that to you when he hadn't snapped. Otherwise your arm would've been ripped off," I snap. "And I'm not joking, he's done it before."

She shudders, and people back away, but the leaders, _they_ step forward.

"Ty, your..."

"Cousin or little brother. Either works, because both are true."

"Your little brother has attacked members of our army," says the one with the amulet.

"I don't have time for this. Come on Noah. We've got to bring Ty to a safe place. The Ocean will help us." Noah carries Ty piggyback, and we prepare to sprint.

"Wait." The blue and pink haired one speaks.

"I'll treat him. I'm the medic unit leader."

I consider for a moment. They did have better supplies, and their huge building was safer than The Ocean's house. However, I had worry about whether the word would leak out about Ty.

"The catch?" I'm not stupid. There's always a catch. I stare into her eyes. Like her hair and lips, they are two different colors. Blue and pink.

"Information."

"That's it? It's a deal." I stick out my hand, and the one with the amulet steps forward.

I glare at him, and he steps back. "Pacts and deals are to be made with the people who set the terms."

The woman steps forward, and we grip hands. I stare into her eyes for a quick moment. She lets go, and turns away.

"The medical ward is in the building," she says. I follow, and Noah comes with me, putting his faith and trust in me. I follow the woman because when I glanced into her eyes, I saw that she would keep the promise to the best of her ability.

What surprises me is that none of the recruits try to stop us. They don't even question the orders. They put their full trust into their leaders. Most don't even stare angrily. Just curious, maybe in awe, maybe a little scared, but mostly just curious.

* * *

**Time Skip: 1 hour, 30 minutes**

**POV: Lunara**

I sat in one the many chairs in this meeting room. Noah was here as well, along with all the leaders and subleaders, except for the ones in the healing unit. They were checking on Ty.

My grip on the chair tightened, knuckles white. I wanted to know what exactly caused Ty to snap, then possibly teach the ones who did a lesson.

Then the healer and her assistant walked in.

"His breathing is steadier and less heavy. The fever is also down a few degrees. He won't eat or drink anything though. His body is also too tense, he should relax a little."

"I can take care of that," I said, somewhat relieved. I could do what she did but it would be hard, especially since he would be in the Nether whenever I tended to him. The Overworld was much better.

"Okay, so. Tell us a bit about yourselves," the healer said.

"I am Number 4, the Eclipse, and this is Number 6, The Warrior, or Noah."

"What is your real name?"

"Lunara Crescelest."

"Lunara, I am Dawn, my assistant is Emer. That is Sky, Fia, Tyler, Bajan, Apotis, SSundee, Eli, Jason, Celeste, Seto, Vee, Jerome, Janis, and Husky. We are Team Crafted." Dawn gestured to everyone in the room while saying their name.

I studied them carefully. Which one was the Witch looking for? She'd be interested in all of them, but she only mentioned one person.

I narrowed it down to Jason, SSundee, Sky, and Seto. An alien, a thousand-year old experiment, Willpower, and Knowledge.

I couldn't see Jason's face as I gave him a quick glance. Not much can be gleaned from a spacesuit, except that it was advanced technology. A life from not from the Overworld would interest her though.

Then there was SSundee. His condition varied amongst carriers, but it always followed the basic lining. Something would trigger the "switch", and he'd turn into an entirely different person. The change could be switched back, or eventually fade away after time. Either way, for the most part, the carriers were nice people, making their "switch" side the complete opposite. She'd probably love to study the results of an experiment that wasn't hers. He didn't react to my stare, and I shifted to the next person.

Leader of the great Sky Army. The host of Willpower, wielded of Notch's amulet. Not that he realized he was using its power whenever a fight or a battle happened, whenever he struggled. Unconsciously, he and the amulet linked together, and Willpower chose to be that link. If wielded correctly, he could be a challenge.

Lastly, Seto, and Knowledge. The fact he was a sorcerer probably helped draw Knowledge to him. And the reason why the Witch would want him was for the knowledge he held. Combine that, the being of Knowledge, and her wish, she could probably dominate the KeyRing. So, she's probably after him.

Seto shifted nervously when he realized he was under my scrutiny.

"So. Shoot our questions at me. I know you know more than you show," I said. It almost sounded like a taunt, a dare.

They glanced at each other, and seemed to reach an agreement of sorts.

"How old are you?"

"19."

"What about Noah and Ty?"

"16 _**(probably not their real age, but for the sake of the story...)**_."

"Are the three of you members of the KeyRing?"

"Yes."

Now they were paying more attention, uneasy. The fact they knew about us shocked me, but not very much.

"What do you do? Murder people in their sleep?"

"Only if He wants us to. If He doesn't assign us a mission, we just do our own thing."

"How do you get in the KeyRing? How did you end up in the KeyRing?"

"That is something I can't tell you just yet."

This ensued in a stare down between me and the person who asked the question, Sky.

In an attempt to break the silence, Seto asked, "How do those wings of yours work?"

"That is a secret of the angels that would probably earn me punishment if they found out I told."

"I-if that is an angel secret, then why are you on the side of bad guys?" A boy, Apotis, I believe, stammered.

I give a short laugh. "And you are the decider between good and evil?"

"Y-you guys hurt people... And k-kill them when they didn't do anything," Apotis stuttered in reply.

"Do not judge just by actions. There is more than one side to a story, and this situation is no different."

"Angels are helpful, and nice! They always do good things! And demons are bad. They hurt innocents, they destroy things!"

I laughed, a bit darkly, and smile. Those were childish reasons, really. "And what if you are both? What if you are neither? What does that make you?"

"What do you mean by both?" Jason asked, puzzled.

"By both I mean you are part angel, and part demon. A hybrid."

"And by neither?"

"You are neither. As humans, you are born neutrally. Your side has not been chosen. Anything not from the Heavens or the Gates of the Underworld counts as neutral."

They were pondering this new information, and silenced settled into the room. No one said a word, and the silence stayed for a few minutes, until-

GRRR...

Noah blushed and lowered his head. He was hungry.

I smiled, a more playful smile.

"Have you ever tasted a cake, Noah?"

"No..."

* * *

**POV: ?**

"Hey."

"What happened this time?"

"He told us to hunt down and capture Solarius's son."

"He's bound to be with others."

"They told me to eliminate them."

"What about Crescelest's daughter?"

"I suppose she is to be eliminated, but we could capture her instead."

"It's probably better. We can't have an angry god."

I sighed. It's time to assume our human forms, but instead of it being for fun, it was to hunt down our enemies.

"Come on Jordan, lets go."

"Alright. I'm coming Ryan, Seth."

* * *

**POV: Noah**

Cakes tasted AMAZING.

They were just... Indescribably delectable.

"Like them, Noah?"

I didn't even care that everyone was holding back laughter, I just nodded and stuffed half of another cake. I reached for the other half, before the smile and energy disappeared, and I slumped back.

Ty would love a cake, I knew it. But he was stuck within the medical ward, sick, in a coma...

"What's wrong?" I glanced up into Bajan's eyes, for a brief moment before lowering my eyes again.

"Nothing..."

"..."

"He'll get one someday Noah," Lunara said reassuringly.

I managed a weak smile in response, but I still worried.

"So is that all the questions for today?" Lunara glanced at each of the questioners, who seemed to unanimously come to an agreement.

"What do the squids mean by 'controlling' members of the KeyRing?" Sky asked.

My body tensed at the question. Was Lunara going to answer the question? Would they discover how to control each one of us? Exploit our powers? Use us like the weapons my 'dad' made us to?

Lunara laughed. "That is something I cannot tell you just yet. But I can tell you one thing. If you want to control us, you have to be strong. Physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally stabilized. If you aren't, we will destroy you in your attempt. And that doesn't mean you will physically die. Whichever part of you isn't stable, that's what we will destroy."

"..."

"I believe that's it for today."

I stood and walked out the room, Noah following me.

"What if they find out?"

That fear in his eyes. He was terrified at the thought of someone having absolute control over him. Well, someone that wasn't Him. Sighing, I placed a hand in his shoulder.

"There's a slim chance of anyone being able to do that. You saw what happened to the people who tried."

"Y-yeah..."

* * *

**POV: SSundee**

We all knew that Lunara didn't trust us, or at least didn't trust us enough to tell us everything. Or maybe the fact that Ty wasn't completely okay was the reason why she wouldn't say anything.

The reason no one in the armies really hated on Ty was me. Whenever my sunglasses came off, something inside me would snap and supposedly turns me into a lunatic.

The only difference?

There was a definite way to stop me. Just cover up my eyes. And I didn't have superpowers.

When Ty snapped, he was like an animal. Wild, uncomprehending.

Almost.

He recognized Noah.

I sighed.

"This is not as easy as just defeating the squids," I said.

Sky nodded in agreement. "This goes to all the way to the Aether and the Nether."

"And the End." Seto spoke up, deep in thought. "That black energy wave that he shot at Jerome is similar to the energy from an End portal. However, the power seems to be offense based, instead of teleportation."

"We'll have to ask her more. We'll have to gain her trust first," Husky noted.

This was one of those moments when our serious side came out. Normally, we'd laugh, and come up with a silly idea. But now wasn't the time.

"We've got to get back to Ty. He'll be fine in a few days. It looks bad but there's been worse." Dawn and Emer got up and left.

"Okay guys. We'll have to start stocking up on supplies. If I'm not right, this may be a long, long battle. We don't know when the squids are going to move, whether the rest of the KeyRing will make a move, and Preston hasn't returned. Have the armies define their techniques, get them better at battling, healing, using magic, whatever they do. We don't have much time," Sky announced.

"Right!"

* * *

**POV: Preston**

Whew, just barely made it out of the Nether. The mobs were throwing huge fits, from yelling nasty insults at each other to killing each other off.

I'm pretty sure I saw Herobrine whiz by with that superhuman speed, causing more lava spouts, and soulsand islands. I winced. How many souls had he taken?

"Fufufu... A hybrid? Strange, it is not of my doing. No matter, I will see what makes you _tick_, what makes you able to continue burning."

Bloody hell...

* * *

**Time Skip: The Next Day**

**POV: Lunara**

I ran towards the meeting room, not even caring I crashed into people. They needed to see this, fast.

BLAM!

And I made it, slamming the door open.

"What is it?" Bajan said, irritated.

"You have a message."

Without a second thought, I tossed the little ball onto the table.

Immediately, red mist swirled outwards, revealing a morbid scene.

A humanoid lava mob was stuck on a tiny island within a 50 ft by 50 ft pool, which looked to be about 20 ft deep. Occasionally, the water would rise, just enough to cover his feet, and with a hiss, an agonized yell, his feet would turn into an obsidian/cobblestone mix. The water would retreat, and the person would be stuck.

"Let's see dis creature dance!"

The leaders watched in horror as the water level rose higher and higher, all the way to halfway up Preston's torso.

"Mmm... Don't raise it too high. A hybrid like him is valuable to my research, my pets."

"Of course, Mistress. It is a shame one like him cannot dance. He would glow brightly on de dance floor, would he not?"

"I understand. Perhaps, maybe, I'll have him dance for you. But now is not the time. Now, I have something to attend to."

"Yes, Mistress!"

The exit opened, then closed, the strange group leaving. The only ones left was Preston and 'Mistress', a black haired woman with lavender eyes, and currently, exercise shorts and a long sleeved shirt.

"How do you feel, little lava mob?"

Preston simply glared at her, not speaking.

"I understand you have other hybrid friends?"

"..."

"Fufufu... I'd love to see them... Within one of the jails, as a test subject. Hybrids are wonderful things. Capable of things that the non-hybrids are not. The best test subjects, truly. Ah, if only your friends knew of where to find you... They could harbor that foolish hope of trying to save you..."

The red mist retracted into the ball, leaving Team Crafted to digest the information.

"WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS?!" Jerome growled, glaring at me furiously.

The glare didn't faze me. "As the messenger, I deliver things to wherever the sender needs it to be."

"You... You..." Jerome couldn't finish his sentence, but I still knew what he would have said.

"If I did not continue my 'job', the other members would track me down. If they discovered Ty and Noah, they would take them back, obliterate this base and the people it houses, and go about their merry way without a second thought. And I know that you know where she is."

"We do. The once high security prison, abandoned and taken over, located within the Levianthan Forest," Jason answered.

"And how would you rescue your friend? Number 7's little hideout is often visited by other KeyRing members. She won't be alone." I knew they couldn't face Number 7, or any of the KeyRing, all 8 of them or not. They just weren't ready yet.

"..."

Just as I thought.

"How would you do it?" Sky asked reluctantly.

"There's a few ways. A trade. One hybrid for the other. Or you could offer something that would be of extreme value to her. Another is to get her to release him, but she'll never let him go without attaching strings."

"How do we get him out without possibly dooming anything?" Husky sighed.

"Well... There is one way..."

* * *

**_How's that for morbidly dark? Almost 6,000 words! Anyway, yeah, I might need mini-OCs, for side characters, like Lana and Hongo. You can send them in, but all I need is name, personality, and appearance. Don't have to be too detailed, they aren't important characters (too many of those!), so they might only appear once. Also, keep in mind they might be good or bad, depending on the situation, so accommodate for that._**

**_Please leave a review, for this chapter at least. I want to know whether I did good on this chapter._**

**_Thanks for reading! _**

**_Oh, and one last thing: I'm considering my next story. No major hints, but they're all Minecraft, and they all have YouTubers._**

**_Titles:_**

_When Children Strike_

_Hunger Games_

_The Other Side_

**_And those are the three story ideas!_**

**_When Children Strike is a bit self explanatory, same with Hunger Games. The Other Side is a darker story, the basic lining and concept based off Fallen by coldstone4815. I asked, and coldstone4815 was fine with me borrowing the concepts. The poll is on my dull, blank profile page :3_**

**_Okay, now it's goodbye :P_**


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